Since being returned home by the valiant efforts of former President Bill Clinton last month, Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee write a detailed account of the events leading up to their imprisonment.
The women were led across the North Korean border by a trusted tour guide in the early morning hours of March 17 of this year. Realizing the danger they were putting themselves in, they returned to the Chinese side of the border quickly. It was already too late, as North Korean soldiers were running toward them with rifles drawn. Ling and Lee say, "We were firmly back in China when the soldiers apprehended us." Imprisoned for 140 days, the two young journalists were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. Following a meeting with Clinton, the North Korean government agreed to nullify this sentence and pardoned the women.
In retrospect, Ling and Lee question their judgment in trusting this tour guide. Taking full responsibility they say, "But it was ultimately our decision to follow him, and we continue to pay for that decision today with dark memories of our captivity."
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