SEOUL, South Korea — Two American journalists were missing Thursday after they were reportedly detained by North Korea for ignoring warnings to stop shooting footage of the reclusive country.
Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore’s online media outlet Current TV, were seized Tuesday along the Chinese-North Korean border, according to news reports and an activist who had worked with them. Their Chinese guide also was detained, although a third journalist with the group, cameraman Mitch Koss, apparently eluded capture.
U.S. officials expressed concern to North Korean officials about the reported detentions and said they were working with the Chinese government to ascertain the whereabouts of the Americans.
“When you have two American citizens who are being held against their will, we want to find out all the facts and gain their release,” said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.
U.S. officials also were in contact with Swedish diplomats in North Korea. The U.S. does not have direct relations with North Korea, a communist country, and Sweden acts as its representative.
Calls to North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York went unanswered Thursday.
In San Francisco, an employee of Current TV told reporters: “There will be no comment on the situation anytime today.”
Ling is a sister of Lisa Ling, a former co-host of the American TV talk show “The View” and now a contributing correspondent for Explorer. She said the family had no comment.
The arrests come at a time of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula, with North Korea declaring its intention to shoot a satellite into space next month. Fearing the launch will be a cover for the test-fire of a long-range missile, regional powers are urging the North to refrain from firing any rockets.
Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate release of the journalists and their guide and urged Chinese authorities to intercede on their behalf “as they were probably on Chinese soil when they were arrested.”
The journalists were seeking to interview North Korean defectors hiding in China, according to an activist who claims he helped them map out their trip.
The Rev. Chun Ki-Won of the Seoul-based Durihana Mission, a Christian group that aids defectors, said he arranged interviews with North Korean defectors but warned the journalists to stay away from border areas.
This time of year, the Tumen River in North Korea’s far northeast is still frozen over in places, making it easy for people to traverse the porous border.
