Cold War Veterans Blog

Two US reporters detained by North Korean troops

CLIFFORD COONAN in Beijing

TWO AMERICAN journalists were still missing yesterday after they were reportedly detained by North Korean troops for ignoring warnings to stop shooting footage of the secretive country. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who work for former US vice-president Al Gore’s online media outlet Current TV, were seized on Tuesday along the Chinese-North Korean border, along with their Chinese guide, while a third journalist, cameraman Mitch Koss, was not detained. The three were arrested near the Tumen River dividing North Korea and China. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing diplomatic sources, said North Korean soldiers took them into custody after they ignored orders to stop filming. The journalists have been blogging their progress using the online site Twitter, and the last entry from Ms Ling read: “Missing home.” The reporters were seeking to interview North Korean defectors hiding in China, and it was unclear whether they were seized in North Korean or Chinese territory – some reports said the soldiers came across the river to detain the journalists.

Tensions are running high on the Korean peninsula as Pyongyang shows little willingness to resume six-party talks with South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and the US about its nuclear ambitions. Instead it has been making aggressive comments threatening South Korea and has declared its intention to shoot a satellite into space next month, which its neighbours believe is a cover for the test-fire of a long-range missile capable of reaching US soil.

US officials expressed concern to North Korean officials about the detentions and said they were working with the Chinese government to find out the whereabouts of the reporters.

North Korean Premier Kim Jong-Il was in Beijing for meetings this week with President Hu Jintao, and China remains North Korea’s last significant ally, even if relations have been strained in recent years.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said officials were investigating the issue. This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times