Behind a desk
Reporting the news
A job that’s safe
Many will choose
A dangerous job
Reporting the war
Among the soldiers
They can't ignore
Kidnapped reporters
Are thrown in jail
In foreign countries
They’re denied bail
Invading a country
Without a gun
Only their camera
Continues to run
In North Korea
They're forced to live
Twelve years of labor
These ladies will give
A misunderstanding
On enemy soil
Innocent people
Are forced to toil
When in harms way
Reporting the news
Who's eager to go
Will any refuse
By, Randee Saber 6/9/09
Lisa Ling's Sister and Fellow Reporter Sentenced to 12 Years Hard Labor in North Korea
Monday, June 8, 2009 Last updated 10:30 a.m. PT
U.S. journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, sister of former View co-host Lisa Ling, have been sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison by North Korea's Central Court.
The reporters, who were working for Current TV, a company co-founded by Al Gore, were convicted of a "grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing," the Korean Central News Agency said.
Claiming suspicion of "hostile acts," North Korean authorities detained Lee and Ling along the China-North Korea border on March 17. The two were on assignment reporting on the plight of North Korean refugees.
"We are deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release," U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelley said in a statement. "We once again urge North Korea to grant the immediate release of the two American citizen journalists on humanitarian grounds."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday the charges were "baseless" and that the women should be allowed to return home. The sentencing comes amid rising tensions between the United States and North Korea, which detonated its second nuclear device in as many months on May 25.
Lee's and Ling's families made public pleas for the journalists' release last week before the start of the five-day trial. Lisa Ling said she hopes the women's predicament will serve as a catalyst for diplomacy between the countries.
