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Three Lessons From A North Korean Capture

At the start of the weekend on Friday evening, I posted a status update on Facebook lamenting two boring days ahead.

Just about an hour before Saturday approached, at 11pm while XY and I were at Starbucks 313 Orchard, I finished a book on predictions by Nate Silver – The Signal and The Noise and started hunting for my next read at the NLB Overdrive website when I stumbled upon – Somewhere Inside by Laura and Lisa Ling. That was to be the start of a quietly adventurous yet contemplative weekend…

As the self-explanatory cover describes, this is a book about the American journalists who were captured by North Korean soldiers in March 2009, and eventually spent nearly five months in detainment.

This book is over 600 pages long on my iPad font & page width settings, and over 400 pages in print. I didn’t start reading it at Starbucks that night, but instead only began on Saturday morning. And by 1am Saturday night (or Sunday morning), I’ve finished the entire book. As far as I could recall, this was the shortest time I’ve ever taken to complete any book of considerable length.

The following morning, with the taste of the story still fresh, I went hunting for yet more stuff online related to the imprisonment and found a companion book by Euna Lee, who was the other journalist captured together with Laura Ling, sharing her experiences of the same ordeal. Incredibly, I finished the second book by 9pm on Sunday.

I have to argue that the Ling sisters’ book was the better of the two, simply because of the intertwining perspectives of one who was captured, and the other fighting to free her sister, whereas Euna’s book was much more self-centered just within her and her family.

The boring weekend turned into a highly self-reflective one because the stories from both books brought me deeply into the circumstances depicted within, and I’m not referring to only the two women’s mental torments.

North Korea and Our Governments

The original intent of Laura and Euna’s assignment was to film a documentary, bringing light to the difficulties faced by defectors who flee their native North Korea, only to find themselves facing more hardship in China, the nearest bordering country other than the heavily guarded Southern border. Because the Chinese government does not readily accept these refugees, they are often conned by middlemen and end up leading lives just as tough as back in their communist home. Some eventually make it to better lives, finding their ways to neutral grounds like Thailand, Vietnam or most dreamingly, South Korea; others, like women, get sold to rural farmers as wives.

Famine, poor human rights and lack of basic necessities such as electricity are just some painful reasons why many escape their homeland.

As much as Laura and Euna wasn’t able to complete the original documentary, I believe their books accomplished the same purpose. It saddens to learn of the lives of such unfortunate people and makes me treasure being in a well-run and relatively liberal country. We often lament how bad our government is in Singapore, but compared to these folks, we should feel blessed. Even the widely condemned Chinese government is way better in this aspect.

*These are satellite nighttime images of the Korean peninsula and neighboring China and Japan. Notice how brightly lit everywhere else is compared to the near pitch-black darkness in North Korea due to their lack of electricity

Treasure While You Can

In their books, both women bemoaned how guilty they felt putting themselves in such great risk, neglecting their families while fearlessly pursuing their careers. And how much they would treasure their loved ones if they were ever to be released.

Laura constantly put off starting a family despite how much her hubby, Iain, yearned for a baby; whereas Euna continuously hunted for her dream journalism job of speaking for the voiceless. In captivity, both of them came to realize how insignificant their careers were when their very survivals were placed on the line.

I’m a nasty bastard myself in many areas. Despite reading these stories, I never seem to learn the idea of treasuring while you have. And trust me, this isn’t the first time I’ve come across such “treasury” ideas, but it never seemed to get drilled into me. I’m not sure if this time is any different, but I’m hoping this journal will remind me constantly.

Foreign Born Citizens

As some may know, Euna Lee was born and raised in South Korea. Her English though fluently spoken, carried obvious accents and wasn’t very easy to make out especially during noisy video interviews (on Youtube). Laura, though bred and born in California, was of Chinese descent. Both her parents were born and raised in Asia (Taiwan & Hong Kong) and her mum barely spoke English when she first settled in the US. Both were full citizens by the time of the capture.

Throughout Laura’s book, you could tell that the US government showed no hesitation when it required them to lower political pride to rescue the two women. Many more complete strangers rallied online and even staged vigils requesting for the North Koreans to pardon them.

My point is – had the same been here in Singapore, I’m certain many of the same would have happened. I’m referring to the government and people’s support. But I’m very sure there would be many, many more who would question the necessity in rescuing the non-local bred and born. Olympic medalists anyone?

I complain about foreigners in Singapore myself. And many of us do. We blame our government for allowing migrants. But will we stand together in times of hardship like these?

I highly recommend reading both these books for anyone who enjoys fiction or biographies. For everyone else, if you are intrigued by what I’ve just written and/or have some time to kill, do pick up at least the Ling sisters’ book. Meantime, let’s take a moment to think about the 3 lessons I picked up from the books:

Complain about our government? Compare that to some others.

Family life. And the importance of treasuring your loved ones while you can.

Foreign-born citizens. Second class?

#Lauraling #eunalee #northkorea

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An opinion piece by my friend and former co-worker Euna Lee

An opinion piece on the Washington Post by my friend and former co-worker Euna Lee Consular access: A two-way street on a crucial right By Euna Lee, Published: June 24 In 2009, while on assignment for Current TV, my colleague Laura Ling and I were arrested by North Korean soldiers for crossing the frozen Tumen River, which separates the Republic of China and North Korea. We were imprisoned and isolated from one another for 41 / 2 months. We were repeatedly interrogated, eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years’ hard labor. It was only through the extraordinary efforts of the State Department and former president Bill Clinton that we were pardoned and allowed to return home. It is difficult to describe the fear that comes with being arrested and detained in a foreign country. The sense of darkness in that first week of North Korean captivity was unbearable. My biggest fear was nobody knowing where I was or what had happened to me. The strained relations between the United States and North Korea only increased my despair. In the middle of the second week, though, I was handed a lifeline: a meeting with the Swedish ambassador, who represented U.S. interests and pointed out to North Korea its responsibilities under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. His hard work yielded a meeting no longer than 10 minutes, but the significance is hard to express. I can only mention the sense of security I now had — that someone outside of North Korea was monitoring my case. The prompt consular access, I believe, protected me from any physical mistreatment by my captors. I was allowed to meet with the ambassador three more times. The meetings were my only communication with the U.S. government — the only way for me to ask for help and to deliver messages to my family. I know the importance of what the Vienna Convention provides. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to ensure judicial review of death penalty cases involving foreign nationals who were not given consular access under the Vienna Convention. This legislation is not only a matter of honoring our obligations to such inmates. There are still many American journalists, aid workers, missionaries, members of the military and tourists detained in foreign countries. For all of them, and for their fearful families at home, there is nothing more important than upholding the reciprocal right to consular protection. With this legislation, Congress can protect that right. The United States failed to abide by the Vienna Convention in the case of Humberto Leal Jr., a Mexican national who is scheduled to be executed in Texas on July 7. While I am not questioning the verdict of the jury that convicted him of murder, our obligations under the Vienna Convention are clear in all cases, including Leal’s. Indeed, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the judicial arm of the United Nations, held that foreign nationals such as Leal have a right to a hearing to determine if they were harmed by not being told of their consular rights. Former president George W. Bush, all nine U.S. Supreme Court justices and the Obama administration agree that the United States is obligated to comply with the ICJ’s decision. Then why doesn’t it? The United States has always been in the forefront of the fight for human rights. People look to us to be a watchdog for human rights violations around the globe. We ask the world to treat our citizens with respect when they are detained in other countries, including honoring their right to consular access. It is a two-way street. The United States must lead by example in honoring consular treaty obligations and in providing a remedy when that right is violated. If Congress does not act swiftly, other countries will be encouraged to violate the consular rights of U.S. citizens traveling abroad. I know firsthand that this is a risk we cannot take. Euna Lee is a journalist and the author of “The World is Bigger Now: An American Journalist’s Release from Captivity in North Korea.” [email protected]; [email protected] © The Washington Post Company

#washingtonpost #eunalee #Euna Lee