Two return home, thousands still imprisoned

by DMC

Jackie and I are so very happy that Euna Lee and Laura Ling have returned home! We made a decision at the beginning of our food strike that we would continue this strike for the full 30 days, whether or not the two women were released during the strike, in recognition of the hundreds of thousands of people who are and have been victims of the North Korean government. Many people, at this moment, are languishing in these hard labor camps--their crimes, by and large, are things like sitting on a newspaper that bears the photograph of Kim Jong il. Some are there because they said something critical about the "Dear Leader." Others are there because they're related to someone who allegedly said something critical about the government or otherwise didn't drink the Kool-Aid.

Those human beings are important, too. Euna Lee and Laura Ling did not spend one day in a hard labor prison -- I'm guessing that's because the North Korean government knew they would eventually release the two women, and Kim Jong il certainly didn't want these two journalists telling the world about all the horrors that go on in such camps.

However, a small number of people have gotten out of those camps. Their stories are always similar--starvation, illness, torture, public executions, the murder of newborn babies.

Right this second, thousands of miles away, that's what's happening. Let us not forget.