Secretary Clinton is seeking "amnesty" for the two American journalists -- Laura Ling and Euna Lee -- who received 12-year sentences of hard labor in North Korea for entering that country illegally and committing "hostile acts."
Originally, Clinton said the charges against the journalists were "baseless" and said they should be released on humanitarian grounds. Now it appears that the Obama administration is acknowledging that they're guilty, which is why "humanitarian grounds" has changed to "amnesty."
Responding to a question posed at a town-hall meeting with State Department employees Friday, Clinton (shown left at the meeting) said, "[T]he two journalists and their families have expressed great remorse for this incident. And I think everyone is very sorry that it happened."
(Interestingly the New York Times reported that it appeared the question might have been planted because the employee who asked the question did not identify herself. According to the transcript of the town-hall meeting, all other people with questions were identified by name.)
What will it take to get Laura Ling and Euna Lee back home? Michael Green, a top Asia expert for former President George W. Bush, told the Times that North Korea would likely want a "high-profile visit" and something in return.
I wonder about the hassles that journalists create for their countries' governments when they deliberately enter countries without permission. Ling and Lee have created a sideshow to the Obama's administration's important priority of reining in North Korea's nuclear program. Photojournalist Tomas Van Houtryve -- who has U.S. and European passports -- entered North Korea by posing as a businessman looking to open a chocolate factory. (He talked about his stunt recently on National Public Radio.) He look photos of daily life in the country, some of which became FP's "The Land of No Smiles." Fortunately, he didn't get caught, but if he had, it would have been somebody's headache.
Photos, top to bottom: JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images, Mark Wilson/Getty Images
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