Two U.S. Journalists Sentenced to 12 Years’ Hard Labor in North Korea

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, journalists working for the Current TV network, have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for allegedly crossing into North Korea’s territory while doing a story on human trafficking.  The trial has been going on since Thursday — but it’s also been news since the two women were detained in mid-March.

The great hope for the trial was that the women would receive stunning (but smaller than this) sentences, and then the sentences would be commuted in exchange for some act toward North Korea by either the U.S. or South Korea.  That the sentence is greater than expected (and having been handed down by the highest court, it can’t be appealed) doesn’t bode well.

The sentence was delivered the same day that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mentioned the administration is considering interdicting North Korean air and sea shipments that could carry weapons.  The administration is also, apparently, considering placing North Korea back on the list of states who sponsor terror — the old Axis of Evil list, if you will.

Secretary Clinton who apparently sent a letter personally apologizing for the Lee and Ling’s possible border crossing and requesting the two women be released, also said today that the administration is working to keep the Lee/Ling issue separate from its own political work with North Korea, calling their detention an issue of “human rights,” not politics.  I agree that this should be separate from political actions, but it’s ridiculous to think that it can be.  These women are American journalists, working on a piece that would have doubtlessly cast North Korea in a dark (and deserved) light.  That their sentence came down — and that it was so harsh — at the same time the U.S. is considering harsher consequences for North Korea’s bad behavior must be part of the whole picture.

So it comes down to that movie-tested line: The United States of America does not negotiate with terrorists, or with kidnappers.  There are arguments that can be made that North Korea’s detention of Lee and Ling makes the government a sponsor of both.

Now we wait.  We wait to see if it’s true that the U.S. doesn’t negotiate.  We wait to see if this is in any way a ruse on North Korea’s part, an attempt to get more attention, an attempt to seem merciful if the women are let go, an attempt to scare other journalists away from its borders.  We wait, and we hope — which is precisely the position that is most frustrating in these situations, and precisely, I suppose, the position that a mature democracy has to take.

None of that helps these two women.  None of it helps their terrified families, none of it shortens the gut-wrenching sensation that must accompany a sentence of 12 years’ hard labor.  My thoughts are with them, and the many hundreds of journalists who risk similar fates every year to bring us valuable stories from the darkest reaches of the world.  Theirs is work that should be honored, and protected, worldwide.

Photostreaming the Presidency

The White House released about 300 new photos to its Flickr Photostream this week.  They are — well, they’re remarkable.  And people have been marking on them, over and over and over again.  The comments being offered at Flickr range from the funny to the absurd, and in between, there are thank yous and little notes of inspiration — and, because it’s the Internet, of course, there are trolls.  The whole stream reads, in fact, like the real story of the first 100 days — frustration, hope, confusion, charm, pride, ire, all of it.  

Pete Souza is the White House photographer.  He was also an official photographer during President Reagan’s term, and has published two books of photos drawn from those times.  He recently gave an interview to John King on CNN, and said, “I look at my job as a visual historian. The most important thing is to create a good visual archive for history, so 50 or a hundred years from now, people can go back and look at all these pictures.”

And from these pictures, in 50 years, I think people will be able to piece together a pretty accurate story of how things were in the White House in 2009.

His work here is stunning not just in quality, but in access.  (There’s already been a little kerfluffle on the Internet today about these photos — one exposed the cover-sheet to a Classified Secret CIA fax).  More stunning than even that is that these photos are up on Flickr, and under a Creative Commons License.  As long as you give credit, you can view them, link to them, download them, share them on your blog or Facebook page, alter them, make them your wallpaper — or just marvel at them, as many times as you want.

I’ve marvelled quite a bit already.  The total slideshow takes… well, I don’t know how long it takes.  It felt like about five minutes but was probably closer to 30.  Here’s a few that caught my eye.  Clicking on any of these photos will take you directly to their Flickr pages, from where you can read the comments or follow through the rest of the stream.

Obama at a budget meeting, January 29, 2009:

The President and the First Lady, Feb. 26, 2009:

Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama, April 9, 2009.  It was in the low 60s that day.

Obama and his daughters, March 3, 2009:

Obama and David Axelrod leaving a Town Hall in Costa Mesa, Calif. on March 18:

Rahm checks the news, April 24, 2009.  The original is large enough to confirm that, yes, that’s USA Today.

All photos by Pete Souza.

And if these left you feeling too hopeful, the White House released photos from the president’s Pandemic Flu meeting today, too.