Comments on KPG Blog: What's Happening with Journalists Seized in North ...

I, too, think the journalists are pawns. Even if, ...

2009-06-24T13:45:31.914-07:00

I, too, think the journalists are pawns. Even if, as Art wrote in the first comment, they were entering the country without permission the sentence is extraordinary for the "crime".

Kim wants leverage. he is a madman, drugged, menta...

2009-06-24T11:41:11.248-07:00

Kim wants leverage. he is a madman, drugged, mentally beaten and paranoid. he seems convinced we will launch nukes at him.

which we won't but 9 year old brains don't get that.

Those journalists are just pawns, sadly, for now.

We just need to bite the bullet and engage him. Confront the bully is the only way to get him to back down

It's pretty clear that the journalists aren't comi...

2009-06-19T12:46:13.457-07:00

It's pretty clear that the journalists aren't coming home until they've served their full sentences. North Korea has videotape of them bragging that they had entered the country without permission. And the documentary's producer, Mitch Koss, doesn't dispute that his crew deliberately crossed the border in pursuit of a hot story. Obviously, the sentence is excessive, but the United States doesn't have control over North Korea's judicial system.

President Obama certainly isn't going to try to interfere with that country's internal workings. He wants a hand-off policy in which no nation asserts its superiority to another. Additionally, he's pushing for nuclear reforms and doesn't want to compromise those efforts just to free two people.

As Americans, what we can do is provide for the families of the women. For example, Euna has a four year old daughter who will need a new mother and plenty of support as she grows up. We can also pray that Ling and Lee are healthy when they leave prison in 2021, and do not commit any infractions which may lengthen their sentences. That way, Euna will be reunited with her daughter when the child turns 16, and they may spend many happy years together after that.