A Good Summer Read about North Korea

Last summer I posted a blog entry about the case of U.S. Journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling who were sentenced to twelve years in a labor camp after their brief illegal entry into North Korea.  This summer Laura Ling and her sister, journalist Lisa Ling, have published their memoir of those events:  “Somewhere Inside:  One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home.”     The memoir gives the inside story of the complicated negotiations with North Korea which ended with the early release of Lee and Ling.  

Laura Ling gives a gripping account of her interrogation which lasted several months and included her confession.  Ling was convinced that her only hope was confessing and apologizing, repeatedly.  Both the Ling sisters describe the frustrating “high context” North Korean negotiation style where things were rarely stated directly.  This meant that Ling, and those working on her behalf in the United States, struggled to understand North Korean positions and interests.  The North Koreans clearly wanted Ling & Lee to apologize and to have a court convict them.  The Ling sisters finally understood that North Korea wanted two additional things before they would grant a pardon and early release:  an apology from the United States government and a visit by former President Bill Clinton (after the North Koreans indirectly rejected Vice-President Gore and President Carter as potential emissaries).  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered the apology and President Clinton agreed to take the trip (which was paid for privately).  It seems that part of North Korea’s interest was getting some level of international recognition.

North Korea closely regulates visitors from outside and few foreigners have experience within the country.  From that perspective this memoir, albeit a prison memoir, is an interesting read about the country and the culture.  The Ling sisters also offer insights about negotiating with North Korea.  These insights are all the more intriguing given the current state of tension between North Korea, South Korea, and the United States.  And, it leaves me wondering if North Korea is as intractable a negotiating counterpart as we think and if, perhaps, we could have different results if we used a different approach.

2 thoughts on “A Good Summer Read about North Korea”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.