High Stakes Gamble in Korea
Following a gambit of rocket launches and nuclear detonations the wicked powers that be in North Korea have upped the ante again, are they bluffing? Laura Ling, the sister of former The View co-host Lisa Ling, and fellow Current TV journalist Euna Lee have been sentenced to twelve years “reform by labor” for illegal border crossing. Calling it a "grave crime” against the Korean nation the Central Court of North Korea convicted and sentenced the two reporters in a trial that began last Thursday. The U.S. State Department said that outside observers were not allowed to witness the trial's proceedings. Friends and family of Ling and Lee insist that their border crossing was accidental and have been publicly pleading with the North Koreans for mercy in recent days. Ling and Lee were on assignment from Current TV working on a story of women and children who were refugees seeking aid and food in China. They were arrested March 17 along the Korean-Chinese border. While circumstances...