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Around the world free speech and free press activists are rallying support for Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the American journalists arrested for allegedly entering the country illegally and committing other undefined crimes, for which they were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
In the United States citizens are organizing prayer vigils, online petition campaigns and marches. They are lobbying senators and the State Department, demanding government action. Pages set up for Laura and Euna on social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter have thousands of members and the numbers keep growing each day.
The arrests of the two journalists at this juncture, when North Korea has upped the ante with its latest nuclear and missile tests, raises a number of questions. Were these arrests pre-planned so Laura and Euna could be used as bargaining chips in negotiations with the United States and the international community?
Why does the world pay attention to North Korea only when it tests bombs and missiles, issues a threat or arrests foreigners? In "normal" times the reclusive regime and its long-suffering citizens are largely ignored.
It is dangerous to speculate as to whether North Korea planned to arrest the two journalists, but the international community's attitude toward North Korea should be discussed more openly.
North Korea is like a giant prison controlled by henchmen of its leader, Kim Jong Il. The "dear leader" shows little concern for his people; his main concern appears to be acquiring weapons and threatening his neighbors. The country is severely short of food and supplies for regular citizens. For high-ranking members of the army and those who are close to Kim Jong Il life isn't so tough, however. They don't have to go hungry or fear for their lives.
In the countryside, as reported by media outlets lucky enough to get inside North Korea, malnutrition is common. Children suffer the most. In orphanages it is common to see stick-thin children staring with blank eyes. They are not fed properly and are severely neglected.
Free speech and free press are unknown in North Korea. There are no such concepts in the country. The people praise the "Dear Leader" and ask no questions if they want to avoid being thrown into a labor camp, or worse.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee are now imprisoned by this cold and heartless regime. And there are hundreds like them who have been sentenced to labor camps – not for committing serious crimes but because they dared to ask questions.
The international community should seriously look at the situation in North Korea and launch long-term plans to engage the country. The people in that regime – the starving regular citizens and orphans – need help, not only when their leader threatens to nuke his neighbors, but all year round.
Even when there is no breaking news, citizens of North Korea need the international community to pay attention to their precarious situation. Further isolating this already isolated country is not going to work. We have to engage North Korea – talk to them, provide aid, offer energy solutions – whatever it takes to force the Dear Leader and his men to be part of the world.
All who respect free speech and human rights should help put pressure on the U.S. government to negotiate the journalists’ release, and to bring North Korea back to the negotiation table. Engagement with the country should be aimed at helping the citizens of North Korea, including all those who are suffering in labor camps. The people of North Korea cannot wait any longer.
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(Bhumika Ghimire is a freelance reporter. Her articles have been published at OhMyNews, NepalNews, Toward Freedom, Telegraph Nepal, Himal South Asian and ACM Ubiquity. She is also a regular contributor to News Front Weekly, in Kathmandu, and Nepal Abroad, in Washington D.C. She can be reached at bhumika_g@yahoo.com. ©Copyright Bhumika Ghimire.)
