Euna Lee and Laura Ling were honored this week at New York’s Carnegie Hall as one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year.  They were among elite company with other honorees Rihanna and Maya Angelou.   The evening was filled with high-profile personalities and Hollywood big weights at the awards ceremony, which included former president Bill Clinton, news anchor Katie Couric, and actor Michael Douglas.   Euna Lee and Laura Ling made headlines this past summer when they accidentally crossed into North Korean territory along the Chinese border while trying to investigate human trafficking.   They were detained in North Korea for 140 days until former president Bill Clinton went to North Korea to help negotiate their release.

“They are Women of the Year because: “They are extraordinary women who were brave and resourceful, reporting a story that no one else was. They showed remarkable courage and initiative during their ordeal.” —Former Vice President Al Gore, chairman of Current TV

For more on Euna Lee and Laura Ling, go to Glamour.com.

Lisa Ling will be representing Laura Ling and Euna Lee on Oprah and she’ll be sharing the story of their ordeal in North Korea.  Look up Oprah on your local listings to find out when you can watch the show.

For the first time since her sister was freed, Lisa Ling returns to The Oprah Show.  For more info, go to Oprah.com>

Euna Lee and Laura Ling have spoken up for the first time about their experiences at the North Korean and Chinese border and how they were captured.  They explain that they were in North Korea for less than a minute and were physically captured on Chinese soil when they fled from North Korean border guards.  They’re unsure if they were lured into that area by their guide.  They are sharing this story because they want to bring light to the tragedies that they were originally trying to investigate and that is the human trafficking and the horrors that North Korean defectors live once they’ve escaped.  See excerpt below from Current TV’s website.

When we set out, we had no intention of leaving China, but when our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river, we did, eventually arriving at the riverbank on the North Korean side. He pointed out a small village in the distance where he told us that North Koreans waited in safe houses to be smuggled into China via a well-established network that has escorted tens of thousands across the porous border.

Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran.

We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. 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. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained. Over the next 140 days, we were moved to Pyongyang, isolated from one another, repeatedly interrogated and eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

We didn’t spend more than a minute on North Korean soil before turning back, but it is a minute we deeply regret. To this day, we still don’t know if we were lured into a trap. In retrospect, the guide behaved oddly, changing our starting point on the river at the last moment and donning a Chinese police overcoat for the crossing, measures we assumed were security precautions. But it was ultimately our decision to follow him, and we continue to pay for that decision today with dark memories of our captivity.

For the full explanation, go to Current TV>

A thank you message from Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two Asian-American journalists who were held capture in North Korea for 140 days, and were pardoned last week by Kim Jong-Il because of Bill Clinton’s diplomatic outreach.

Messages from Laura Ling and Euna Lee

Dear Friends,

While in detention in North Korea, isolated and scared, one of the things that gave me strength and sustained my faith was hearing about the groundswell of support for Euna and me. You were a part of this incredible movement and for that I will be forever thankful.

Through the letters that I was able to receive, I learned about the many beautiful vigils, the LauraAndEuna.com website, the petition, the Facebook group, and all the other grassroots efforts to bring us home. I am deeply humbled.

In times of extreme darkness and depression, I thought of all of the people, united together, sending us messages of love and hope. I envisioned the light of the candles at the vigils and it brightened my soul.

I would not be here today, home and free, re-united with my family (my sister is actually asleep on the couch right by my side), if not for the support from so many extraordinary people. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Words cannot adequately express my profound gratitude.

While my experience was the most challenging time of my life, I do believe that something beautiful came out of it, and that is the way in which so many people united around a cause for hope and peace.

I’d like to share with you an entry from my journal that I kept during my time in captivity:

Thursday, June 11, 2009 Day 87, 3:00 PM

“I’ve been so overwhelmed and touched by the outpouring of support from so many people. Loved ones, friends, people I haven’t been in contact with in ages, and even total strangers. It makes you have faith in humanity. I hope that I would be as good of a friend or human to someone else in a similar situation.”

Euna and I are two of the lucky ones whose story of captivity resulted in a happy ending. But there are so many journalists imprisoned around the world whose fate is still undecided. It is my sincere hope that the energy ignited around bringing us home will be harnessed into raising awareness around these fellow journalists and their struggle for freedom.

With all my love and gratitude,

Laura

*********

It’s been 5 days since I arrived home from my traumatic experience.

What have I done… hmm… let’s see. I made scrambled eggs with Hana, I walked around the neighborhood with Michael and Hana after dinner, I combed Hana’s hair and dressed her for school, I danced and jumped with Hana, I went to a cafe and had a very happy time with Michael listening to his life and shared mine, I went to church and was able to sing unto the Lord.

I am slowly fulfilling the wish list that I made in North Korea one item at a time.

Every moment when I realize it’s real, when I am home and I am with my family, I think of all the individuals who were there at the vigils, who wrote letters to us and to the government, who read and followed our news and were concerned about us and helped Laura and I to come home.

Knowing that you would not stop until we came home kept me going day by day in North Korea.

As soon as I got home, after I gave a long hug to my family, I wanted to thank the people who helped me. I wanted to let people know how grateful I was and am. I found myself surfing the Internet and reading different blogs and news articles about us. Then I realized that I felt separated again from my husband and daughter, just as I was for 141 days in North Korea.

I decided then not to go through all the emails and articles just yet. I have not checked the Facebook pages about Laura and I or the web site, LauraAndEuna.com. Because I know that once I started to read them I would get caught up in all the love and support everybody gave me and I will neglect my family.

Hana is still a bit nervous about mommy going to work again. She told me today “Mommy, when I ask you to leave (she meant ‘come home’), please come home to me.” She told Doorie (one of my cats) “Doorie, if you don’t listen, mommy will go to the airport.”

I will wait for the time when Hana truly believes that mommy’s always there for her, then I will be free to share my stories and experiences in North Korea and be able to express how thankful I am.

My husband mentioned the names of so many individuals who helped us and supported us through this tough time. I won’t list the individual names here to thank because I believe you already know that I am talking to you when I say “Thank You.”

Again, I am blessed to have such support from everybody who participated and I won’t forget your love and I just want to say, “I love you too.”

Love,
Euna

Interesting commentary by a local news station in the Washington D.C. area about the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling.

9news now talked with people in Annandale who say the capture and release helped bring more awareness of abuse happening in the isolated country.

Apparently a professor from the University of Georgia – Han Park – worked behind the scenes in assisting with the pardon of Laura Ling and Euna Lee from North Korea, this according to KBS.

Since the two journalists were arrested by the North, Park is said to have visited Pyongyang in March and again on July fifth to discuss their release with North Korean officials.

In mid-July, he contacted former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, calling for the need to send a special envoy to the North.

Source: KBS World

It’s a great day to be an American!  There are so many winners in the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling.  How big?  National networks stopped programming for a live feed into the arrival of Euna Lee, Laura Ling and ex-President Bill Clinton.  One of the journalists who was present at the airport hanger said it was even emotional for her as she watched the two journalists step off the plane.  Today may be a seminal moment for Asian-Americans because it said that all Asian-Americans are citizens of the U.S.; that you don’t have to be white to be identified as an American.  Take pause and think about what just happened here.  According to various news reports, there were a lot of behind the scenes negotiating that even involved the White House.  Perhaps a decade ago – because Euna Lee and Laura Ling weren’t white – the media and the rest of America may not have cared.  Fast forward to today and what we witnessed was a country, a government, and the higest of digniatries extending themselves to save two Asian-Americans from the clutches of Kim Jong-Il.  I wouldn’t doubt that Kim Jong-Il would’ve used these these two ladies as bargaining chips in the bigger issue of nuclear and missle arms disarment.  In the end, the White House actively engaged and brought a happy ending to the ordeal of these two young ladies.

Whatever you may want to say about Bill Clinton, he’s d’man!  Everyone has an opinion about the ex-president called “Slick Willy,” but let’s give him credit for going all the way to North Korea and returning Euna Lee and Laura Ling with him.  When he descended from the plane, there was a long hug and embrace between vice president Al Gore and president Bill Clinton.  As we stated up front, everyone is a winner.  If you’re Asian-American, you’re a winner because today says we really are citizens.  For Bill Clinton and his team, your legacy may be better than before.  And finally for President Obama and the White House – they could’ve ignored the two ladies during the escalating tensions between North Korea and the U.S., but they engaged and diplomatically brought home the two American journalists.  Bravo Bill!  Bravo to the White House!

BREAKING NEWS: Bill Clinton gets Kim Jong Il to pardon Euna Lee and Laura Ling!!!  The ex-president has already departed North Korea, and Euna Lee and Laura Ling are on board heading for Los Angeles to be united with their families.  Yo Bill Clinton…. much respect!  You d’man!
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Ex-President Bill Clinton has landed in North Korea.  The breaking news today is that ex-President Bill Clinton is in North Korea to help win the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two American journalists who have been in captivity there since March.  This marks the first time a U.S. President has stepped foot in North Korea since Jimmy Carter in 1994.

It is believed that Kim Jong-Il may be using them as bargaining chips against the U.S. amid heightened tensions between North Korea and the world.  North Korea has recently conducted both nuclear and missile tests which has alarmed the entire world.  The U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea’s most recent actions and had passed a resolution to further expand an arms embargo.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling were captured along the North Korean and Chinese border back in March and were held on trial in Pyongyang for illegally entering North Korea.  They were tried and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for “committing hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry.”  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tried to pursuade North Korea into releasing the two journalists by seeking amnesty for them but that was unsuccessful.  Previous to that, the families of Euna Lee and Laura Ling pleaded with North Korea to graciously release Euna and Laura, but that fell on deaf ears.  Hopefully ex-President Bill Clinton can finally convince Kim Jong-Il to be rationale and release the two American journalists and reunite them with their families.  Euna Lee, the Korean-American, has a young daughter and husband.

Updated picture of Bill Clinton sitting with Kim Jong-Il.  Bizarre!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spoken up on behalf of the two Asian-American journalists – Euna Lee & Laura Ling – who are currently imprisoned in North Korea.  She is asking and hoping that North Korea would grant amnesty to the two ladies.

The State Department signaled the change in its approach to the case Thursday when a spokesman called for their release “on amnesty grounds,” a formulation that seemed to imply acceptance of the North Korean judicial process. Secretary Clinton reiterated that position Friday in response to a question at a “town hall meeting” with State Department employees. “The two journalists and their families have expressed great remorse for this incident,” she said. “And I think everyone is very sorry that it happened. What we hope for now is that these two young women would be granted amnesty through the North Korean system and be allowed to return home to their families as soon as possible.” Clinton told reporters on the day the two women were sentenced that the case should be viewed as a humanitarian matter and that they should be granted clemency by North Korea and deported.  Read more>

Michael Jackson had a history of trying to bring light or help to global issues from famine in Africa to orphans.  According to Gotham Chopra, a friend of Michael Jackson, the gloved one had actually inquired into how he could help North Korean detainees Laura Ling and Euna Lee gain their release.  Apparently Michael Jackson wanted to find out if the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was a fan of his and if so, he would somehow leverage his fame to gain the release of the two journalists.  According to Chopra, Michael Jackson said “maybe if he was a fan, I could help get those girls home.”  Before Gotham Chopra could fully dig into this request, the King of Pop passed away.  Read more at Herald de Paris>