Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee Provide Details of their Detention in North Korea in an Op-Ed for the Los Angeles Times and Current Media

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Sept. 1, 2009 -- The Los Angeles Times today announced the publication of Laura Ling and Euna Lee’s first-hand account of the story that took them to the North Korean-Chinese border and the events leading up to their detention in a North Korean prison.

The lengthy Op-Ed article will be published on latimes.com tonight and in The Times Wednesday, Sept. 2nd print edition, as well as made available to other publications tomorrow via the LA Times- Washington Post news service. In addition, Ling and Lee’s commentary will appear on the Current site.

In the article, Lee and Ling describe how they crossed into North Korea across the frozen Tumen River to document the route used by human traffickers smuggling North Koreans over the border. After making it back into China, the two women were arrested by North Korean guards who pursued them across the river.

“We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers,” Ling and Lee write. “They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained.”

The women were held for nearly five months in Pyongyang, during which they were convicted of “hostile acts” against North Korea and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. They were released last month after former President Bill Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

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