Posted by Eugene Volokh:
"North Korean Officials Cross the Border To Arrest US Journalists,"
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_15-2009_03_21.shtml#1237480065
reports the [1]Times (London):
Security officials from North Korea have detained two
Korean-American journalists [Laura Ling and Euna Lee], apparently
while they were on the Chinese side of the border and filming into
the closed Stalinist state.
The report by South Korea's YTN channel quoted a South Korean
government official as saying that the guards had crossed the
border into Chinese territory to arrest the pair after they ignored
warnings to stop filming.
The two women worked for an online news company based in
California, the report said....
If the North Korean guards did cross the Yalu or the Tumen rivers
that demarcate the border, this could prove extremely embarrassing
for Beijing, which is the only major ally of isolated North Korea
and its main source of economic aid....
More from [2]ABC News, quoting a State Department spokeswoman:
We are aware through reliable channels on the morning of March 17,
that two American citizens were taken into custody across the Tumen
River from China into North Korea by what appeared to be North
Korean border guards....
We are working with the Chinese government in the area to get
information on the whereabouts and welfare of the Americans in
question. We have also been in touch with North Korean authorities
to express our deep concern about this situation. We have also been
in touch with our protecting power, the Swedish Embassy in
Pyongyang....
"[3]Protecting power" is of course a diplomatic term of art here,
rather than a claim about any likely forceful protection.
References
1. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5936431.ece
2. http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7121015&page=1
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protecting_power
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