Tag Archives: Laura Ling

L.A.-area vigil for detained journalists

Laura Ling and Euna Lee will be tried Thursday in North Korea on charges of hostile acts and illegally entering the country. The two American reporters for Current TV have been detained since March 17 and if convicted, face up to five years detention and hard labor.

Both women are married, and Lee has a 4-year-old daughter.

I think we all have high hopes for these two women reporters, especially since Roxana Saberi was freed and her sentence suspended. But with the rumblings from North Korea lately, I think it will take a lot of prayer to get them out without risking a full-scale war with this still-Communist nation.

There will be a vigil in Santa Monica Wednesday night for Ling and Lee, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Wokcano, 1413 5th Street, near the Third Street Promenade. It’ll be one of many across the country. I won’t be able to be there because I work that night, but would be much obliged if anyone else is there and would be willing to share pictures with AAJA-LA.

Asian women journalists, beware

Is there really so many Asian American women as journalists that three of them are being held in hostile countries for espionage? It is disturbing to me that three women of Asian descent — including Roxana Saberi, who is half Japanese and half Iranian — are being held in hostile countries on trumped up charges. Is Hillary Clinton the only U.S. official who will speak up for them?

The three of them have been on my heart lately. I can’t imagine the fear they are feeling, the worry their families are experiencing. I can only imagine the admonishment their moms will give them when, God willing, they return, especially since I’m sure all three of them were urged to go into safer professions like medicine, law or some sort of computer or engineering work instead.

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