Tuesday, June 9, 2009
i've been watching CurrentTV but only today did I realise that the 2 journalists sentenced to 12 years jail in North Korea are actually featured in the program. i feel for them.
Nobody exactly knows what happened on March the 17th, but according to ultra-credible North Korean media, the 2 ladies committed a "grave crime against the Korean nation" and did an "illegal border crossing". The latter probably holds some truth - they could have strayed across the border unintentionally since probably North Korea is too poor to build an 880-mile fence along the border and they are in serious need for some Chinese 'foreign talent' to help boost their ailing economy. Or perhaps the 2 journalists thought the guard post was a house because there wasn't a guard in sight - they had sped off to the nearby town where free tapioca were given away. Whatever the case, we can be sure that if Laura and Euna were Chinese or Russian they would have been allowed through or simply deported away. 12 years jail for border crossing is simply ridiculous. Undeniably, this reclusive regime is playing a polictical game to secure more bargaining rights on the nuclear table.
If 12 years is a deserving sentence for committing a 'grave crime against the Korean nation', then I wonder what crime could they have committed? Let's list down the possibilities:
1. While unknowing trespasssing the border, they trampled over NK's only surviving wheat field.
2. They are H1N1 positive and thought to be human biological weapons sent by the USA.
3. North Korean border guards thought the video camera is a 21st century bomb. Or the camera wasn't a North Korean make.
4. They were donning made-in-USA North Face jackets.
5. They called Kim Jong Il by his name instead of greeting him as the 'Dear Leader'
So, what grave time did they commit? The world ought to know.
disturbed you at 12:11 PM