4 ANALYSIS & FEATURE WEDNESDAY JUNE 10, 2009

Will U.S. send envoy after N.K. jails reporters?

The sentencing of two tests are being planned.
American journalists to 12 The U.N. has also been debat-
years in a North Korean labor ing a new resolution to punish
prison sets the stage for possible the North for its second nuclear
negotiations with the reclusive test May 25. Pyongyang fol-
nation for their release — per- lowed the test with a barrage of
haps involving an envoy from missile launches.
the United States. The case gives the two sides
A joint statement by the fam- an excuse to talk, with the U.S.
ily of the two reporters — Laura possibly sending a special envoy,
Ling and Euna Lee — expressed said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor
the hope that the governments at Seoul’s Dongguk University.
of the United States and North “I think the North is going to
Korea “can come to an agree- try to use the reporters to facili-
ment that will result in (their) tate relations with the U.S.,”
release.” said Kim, adding that he didn’t
“We ask the government of think the women would be mis-
North Korea to show compas- treated and would even be kept
sion and grant Laura and Euna Former U.S. Vice President Al separate from North Korean in-
clemency,” said the statement Gore AP-Yonhap News mates.
released Monday by the family’s “The sentence doesn’t mean
spokeswoman, Alanna Zahn. much because the issue will be
New Mexico Gov. Bill resolved diplomatically in the
Richardson, who helped win the end,” Kim said.
release of Americans from The journalists were arrested
North Korea in the 1990s, said March 17 near the China-North
he was “ready to do anything” Korea border, and it’s unclear
the Obama administration whether they tried to sneak into
asked. Another possible negotia- the North or if aggressive bor-
tor, if the U.S. government ap- der guards crossed into Chinese
proved, is former Vice President territory and grabbed them, as
Al Gore, who founded the TV has happened before. A camera-
venture that both reporters man and their local guide es-
work for. caped.
A senior Obama administra- Ling and Lee were reporting
tion official said Richardson and about the trafficking of women
Gore had been in contact with at the time of their arrest.
the White House and State Their family’s statement said
Department about potential “if they wandered across the
next steps, including possibly U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson Lisa Ling breaks down while addressing attendees of a vigil for her sister Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two American journalists detained border without permission, we
sending an envoy to try to nego- Bloomberg in North Korea, at the Wokcano Cafe in Santa Monica, California, on June 3. AP-Yonhap News apologize on their behalf.”
tiate the release of Lee, 36, and It also expressed concern
Ling, 32, both of whom work for porters’ case and Washington’s over the North’s recent nuclear some kind of a political pardon rhetoric from Pyongyang on the he said. about the women’s health, not-
Gore’s Current TV. efforts to punish North Korea and missile tests. as a goal. issue of the two women. North Korea wants to be ing that Ling has a serious med-
But the official stressed that for its recent nuclear test are President Barack Obama “is “In previous instances where For several days, rumors treated like a legitimate nuclear ical condition, a reference to her
no decisions had been made on “entirely separate matters.” deeply concerned by the report- I was involved in negotiating, have been swirling that Gore state and hopes to draw ulcer, while Lee’s 4-year-old
how to proceed and said neither “We think the imprisonment, ed sentencing of the two you could not get this started would fly to North Korea to ne- Washington into direct negotia- daughter is showing “signs of
Gore nor Richardson had been trial and sentencing of Laura American citizen journalists by until the legal process had end- gotiate the reporters’ release. tions about normalizing rela- anguish over the absence of her
asked to go. The official spoke and Euna should be viewed as a North Korean authorities, and ed,” he said on NBC’s “Today” But Gore has not commented on tions. Washington has refused mother.”
on condition of anonymity due humanitarian matter,” Clinton we are engaged through all pos- show. a possible trip and has stayed to endorse such a status for an The North accused the re-
to the diplomatic sensitivity of said. “We hope that the North sible channels to secure their re- He said the sentence was silent about the case in general. unpredictable nation with a his- porters of unspecified “hostile
the situation. Koreans will grant clemency lease,” said deputy White House harsher than expected but Victor Cha, who served as a tory of terrorism, ripping up acts”
Asked Monday if Washington and deport them.” spokesman William Burton. added that the fact that espi- senior Asia adviser on former agreements and sharing its nu- and illegally entering the
will send an envoy to the North, The isolated North is proba- Richardson, who also traveled onage was not mentioned was a President George W. Bush’s clear know-how with nations country, but the formal charges
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary bly less interested in having the to North Korea in 2007 to bring good sign. National Security Council, said hostile to America. against them were unclear.
Rodham Clinton said the women sent to its gulag, where back the remains of Americans He said North Korea so far a high-level envoy, such as Gore, Pyongyang is believed to be Their trial began Thursday and
Obama administration is “pur- poorly fed inmates often do killed in the Korean War, said has not, at least publicly, tried to should be sent to negotiate the preparing another long-range foreigners weren’t allowed to ob-
suing every possible approach backbreaking work in factories, the journalists were part of a tie this incident to differences release of the Americans. missile test at a new launchpad. serve the proceedings.
that we can consider in order to coal mines and rice paddies. “high-stakes poker game” North with Washington over its nu- “North Koreans care a great On Monday, North Korea The North’s official news
persuade the North Koreans to Instead, Pyongyang will like- Korea is playing. Now that the clear program and the recent se- deal about public face, and warned fishing boats to stay agency said Monday the women
release them and send these ly try to use them as bargaining legal process has been complet- ries of missile tests that it has sending someone of Gore’s away from the east coast, committed a “grave crime” and
young women home.” chips in an increasingly tense ed, he said he thinks talks for conducted. He also said he has stature would be an eminently Japan’s coast guard said, feed- would be sentenced to 12 years
She stressed that the re- standoff with the Unite States their release can begin, with not seen particularly bellicose credible humanitarian mission,” ing concerns that more missile of “reform through labor.” (AP)

Are we heading for 1984 or 2045?

By Chris Williams a few internet sites in China for tions in search of a better life
a few days simply makes the would not have seemed feasible
Worldwide press coverage of Chris Williams government look out-of-touch. when the jet engine was hardly
the 20th anniversary of the ● Chris
In Iran, one of the major out- off the drawing board. Such
Williams is based at the
Tiananmen Square killings on comes of religious totalitarian- threats can all be used to legiti-
Centre for International
June 4, 1989, coincided with the ism is the export of millions of mate totalitarian measures.
Education and Research,
20th anniversary of the death of highly intelligent Iranians to It would be easy to claim that
University of Birmingham,
Ayatollah Khomeini founder of other countries. This brain Orwell did not foresee “terror-
United Kingdom, and has also
the Islamic Republic of Iran. drain simply increases the pow- ism.” But although he did not
held posts at the universities of
Years ending in “9” seem er of the freedom movements in give it that name, he certainly
London, Bristol, Cambridge,
strangely linked to totalitarian exile, and reduces future income recognized the need for totali-
Cairo and the United Nations
regimes. to the state which could be di- tarian states to construct om-
University Leadership Academy.
There was another related verted to support the regime. nipresent enemies. If he were
His books include “Leaders of
anniversary, which the press Adversary is also the mother of around now, he would probably
integrity: ethics and a code for
missed. Sixty years ago, on June invention. Iranian web censor- have pointed out that “terror-
global leadership” (2001, UNU
8, George Orwell’s book ship has honed IT skills ists” provide the perfect infinite
Amman), and “Leadership
“Nineteen eighty-four,” was throughout Iran. Within days of designer enemy for political
Accountability in a Globalizing
published. Orwell’s visions of a the Iranian government block- leaders who want to impose
World” (2006, Palgrave Macmillan, London).
totalitarian world gave us the ing websites, unblock software public control measures because
phrases, “Big brother is watch- ● He can be reached at [email protected]. becomes widely available. This of never-ending war.
ing you” and, “The Ministry of is why Face Book, which was be- In the actual year 1989, a film
Truth,” and he foresaw Iranian ing used by those opposing was released of Orwell’s book. I
style sexual repression in an era Ahmadinejad in this week’s sat in the cinema transfixed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il poses with his sister Kim
when Iranians were dressed in Itis,of course,also easy to look around elections, was restored within a the dreary scenes of totalitarian Kyong-hui (second from left) during a recent public appear-
western fashions and the police the world and find reasons not to be opti- few days. The filters served no townscapes. There were many ance. Yonhap News
were making women remove he- point except to demonstrate a moments that made the audi-
jabs. Orwell was already famed mistic,not least in a week when two jour- weakness of the regime. One ence gasp, but the biggest shock
for his 1945 parody of Stalin’s
Russia in “Animal Farm.”
But these “9” anniversaries
nalists have been sentenced to 12 years
hard labor for entering North Korea.
other by-product of State cen-
sorship is that Hollywood
movies are available on DVD in
came right at the end of the
film, when a short note said,
“All filmed on location some-
Kim accompanied
also provide grounds for opti-
mism. In 1979, the new
Cambodian state was estab- and murdered. Lone “black protests. State violence in Tibet
Iran before they are released in
America.
Another book, published this
where in Britain in the year
1984.” When the film is made of
Seidel’s 2045, I guess a similar
by sister during
lished, following liberation by sash” protesters stood on street and now Kashgar are indefensi- year, mirrors Orwell’s approach note will say that the stories of
Vietnamese forces. In 1999,
Cambodia joined ASEAN, and
2009 has seen the trial of Kaing
corners facing abuse — police
filmed them, and upright white
citizens threw eggs and fruit at
ble, but the regime is very un-
likely to return to anything like
Mao’s Cultural Revolution in the
— Peter Siedel’s “2045: a story
of our future.” A man, who has
been in a coma for 35 years,
totalitarian harassment were
also not fictional.
When explaining “1984,”
tour of music school
Khek Ieu (Duch) for war crimes. them. The brave women, who foreseeable future. Last month a awakes to discover an America Orwell wrote that the book was North Korean leader Kim Kim Jong-il “gave guid-
Last week was also the 65th were white, could not stand to- Chinese academic, Hu Xingdou, that has become akin to a total- set in England “to emphasize Jong-il was accompanied by ance” for the production of
adversary of the D-Day libera- gether because more than two successfully sued an internet itarian India. that the English-speaking races his only sister during his lat- the Russian opera “Evgeni
tion of Europe from Hitler’s constituted a riot and they could company that had blocked his There is a lot to learn from are not innately better than est tour to a music school, the Onegin” at the Pyongyang
Nazi regime. Interestingly, the be arrested. White students website about corruption and comparing “1984” and “2045.” anyone else and that totalitari- North’s state media said Kim Won Gyun Conser-
celebrations did not receive were gassed and shot in univer- environmental problems. That In both visions, surveillance, anism, if not fought against, Monday, reporting on her vatory, the report said. He
great attention, despite help sity campuses, and children’s would have seemed unthinkable censorship, propaganda to pro- could triumph anywhere.” I now first such media appearance. was accompanied by Workers’
from premiers Obama, Sarkozy drawings could amount to a even a year ago. mote the aims of the regime are live in a Britain where a gov- Kim Kyong-hui, a depart- Party “Secretary Kim Ki-nam
and Brown. And that is a good criminal act if they appeared to When I visited China a year assisted by screens in every ernment has used antiterrorism ment director in the Workers’ and department directors
thing, because German totali- criticize the regime. And then it after the Tiananmen killings, I home. Orwell did not foresee the laws against people who read Party, was last seen in a still Kim Kyong-hui, Jang Song-
tarianism is now in the realms all changed. could have bought a propagan- internet, or anything compara- lists of names in the street, wear photo of a parliamentary thaek and Choe Ik-gyu,” it
of history. It is, of course, also easy to da book, in English, “proving” ble with netizen power. But in T-shirts, protest against climate meeting in 2003. said.
On the same day, Polish peo- look around the world and find that the government was inno- Seidel’s 2045, the internet has change, or who run Icelandic Although she has been pho- The sister’s appearance
ple, dressed in golden suits, took reasons not to be optimistic, not cent of any killings. I wish I had. been tamed to prevent it from banks. The last two examples tographed at general events — raised speculation about an
part in an art performance in least in a week when two jour- It is now a collectors piece, be- becoming a tool of protest were essentially to protect com- such as her father and North allegedly ongoing power
Brussels, called “Common Task” nalists have been sentenced to cause it is a spectacular own against the eight dominant mercial interests, as has been Korean founder Kim Il-sung’s transfer process in the North.
by Pawell Althamer. It marked 12 years hard labor for entering goal by a totalitarian regime. It mega-companies. The most sig- the harassment of scientists funeral in 1994 and parliamen- Her husband is believed to
the 20th anniversary of the fall North Korea. But perhaps the is unlikely that the Chinese gov- nificant difference is that such as Arpad Pusztai for inves- tary photo sessions — Kim play a regent’s role in groom-
of communism in Poland, and in significance of these anniver- ernment would produce a book Orwell’s vision was of political tigating the safety of generically Jong-il’s sister has never been ing the leader’s third and
the rest of Eastern Europe. It is saries is not how protestors and like that again. Twenty years on totalitarianism. In 2045, the au- modified foods. seen on a public tour along with youngest son, Jong-un, as his
20 years since the collapse of the freedom fighters succeed, but we watch the evidence of thoritarian elite is commercial. Perhaps we should now be her brother. successor.
USSR in 1989. how totalitarian states in- Chinese soldiers killing civilians Orwell did not predict plane- less concerned about totalitari- Kim Kyong-hui is married South Korea’s National
The same year also saw the evitably seem to fail. in film clips on TVs and social tary environmental problems an states, and more concerned to Jang Song-thaek, who is Intelligence Service told law-
end of the apartheid regime in Outwardly, the Chinese sys- networking sights across the such as climate change and wa- about creeping commercial to- believed to have risen as the makers last week that Jong-
South Africa. Yet when I lived tem may seem the same as 20 world. And “we” includes count- ter shortage, nor global pan- talitarianism within states. country’s No. 2 figure since un appears to have been
there three years earlier, that years ago, but China has less Chinese students and trav- demics and the exponential rise History shows that political to- leader Kim Jong-il reportedly tapped as the heir. (Yonhap
seemed impossible. Black and changed dramatically in re- elers. Those images will stay in in population. The large scale talitarianism usually fails, but fell ill last summer. News)
“colored” people were tortured sponse to the Tiananmen cyberspace for years, so blocking cross-border mobility of popula- Continued on Page 14