On June 22nd I wrote a letter to Kim Jong Il asking him to free Euna Lee and Laura Ling. I would like to believe that this letter was the catalyst for what happened but in all seriousness he probably never read it. 🙂
However being part of the movement to free Euna Lee and Laura Ling was my privilege and eventually my joy. I tried to contribute to the movement by:
- blogging and twittering and emailing about Euna Lee and Laura Ling
- asking my church to pray for them which they did as part of Sunday worship on May 10
- participating in the Detained in North Korea Facebook group
- following the LIBERATE LAURA & EUNA NOW blog and twitter
- signing online petitions like this one
- sending emails to Governor Richardson, President Obama and other politicians
- advocating for their release since I first heard about their capture on April 24
- praying for them (and I’m not much of a praying person 😉 )
Compared to what some others did like Richard Horgan, Mallika Chopra, Natasha Bishop, and Kevin DeSoto I did very little. But on Tuesday, August 4 I joined them, the rest of the movement and the country in eager anticipation for the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
The timeline of the that day and the next day, captured on my Twitter feed, was so exciting and joyful.
- 8/4 7:11 AM PDT learned that Bill Clinton was in North Korea.
- 8/4 12:23 PM PDT Twitter goes crazy with news that the two journalists have been freed.
- 8/5 7:34 AM PDT Laura Ling & Euna Lee are already back in the U.S. and this photo almost brought me to tears.
- 8/5 7:40 AM PDT found video footage of their arrival.
This is the first 2 minutes of their arrival from CNN with no commentary.
Here is the Associated Press’s footage of their arrival.
Here is CBS New’s footage of their arrival.
- 8/5 7:46 AM PDT found video footage of their press conference.
Here is MSNBC’s footage of the press conference.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
- 8/5 8:07 AM PDT found the best photo of the reunion.
I will be writing more about the diversity of reactions to their release and what I think is next. But for now I just want to say “Thank God for the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling. May God use this event to bring peace to Korea.â€
What were your feelings and reactions about these events? Please share.
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Though Kim Jong-il never logged on to one of the few broadband connections in North Korea to read your June 22nd letter, I’m sure it clicked with others.
The Open Letter concept is one of the great templates for the Internet, so kudos for making use of it to inspire others.
Thanks for the encouragement Richard. Your blog was a tremendous inspiration and blessing. 🙂
Every single individual who prayed, blogged, twitted, lit a candle, sent well wishes, signed petitions and wrote letters to government officials played a part in getting these girls home. Your open letter to Kim Jon-Il was such a great use of the internet and so well written. Thank you for everything you did!
My best!
Thanks Natasha. Your article helped inspire this post.
Attempting to communicate to North Koreans your desire is probably a futile effort; the North Koreans that might be reached and have any influence (a very small handful, in this situation), don’t care what anyone thinks. The two journalists were happenstance pawns in a much larger diplomatic game.
Where raising awareness can be more effective is informing our (U.S.) decision makers. Most of these people will already have the facts (far more than most people have), but may be prompted by public opinion to take more action. Making NK HR an election issue is another way to get attention.
Richardson those are good points. Definitely raising awareness to our politicians is something we should be doing too.