Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore’s media outlet Current TV based in San Francisco, were seized Tuesday along the Chinese-North Korean border, the AP is reporting. Their Chinese guide also was detained although a third journalist with the group, Mitch Koss, apparently eluded capture.
Current TV, with studios and offices across the street from AT&T Park in the China Basin area of San Francisco, is a cable network and online media outlet that has its own reporters and also uses content from viewers. The company said this morning it has no comment on the situation.
Ling is a sister of Lisa Ling, a former co-host of “The View” and now a contributing correspondent for Explorer.
South Korean’s YTN network first reported the detentions early Thursday, saying two Americans were arrested near the Tumen River dividing North Korea and China. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing diplomatic sources, said North Korean soldiers took them into custody after they ignored orders to stop filming.
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.” (Photo credits: Yonhap via AP)