U.S. journalists admit entering N.Korea, say detained in China
07:47 02/09/2009 MOSCOW, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - Two U.S. journalists, detained by North Korea in March and released in early August, have admitted entering the North Korean territory, but said border guards apprehended them on the Chinese soil.
Euna Lee, 32, and Laura Ling, 36, had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry into North Korea and engaging in "hostile acts." Their release was secured by former U.S. president Bill Clinton.
"We didn't spend more than a minute on North Korean soil before turning back, but it is a minute we deeply regret," the women said in the public account of their detention in North Korea, published on the Current TV website.
The reporters were making a story about the fate of North Korean defectors and arrived to the Tumen River on the border between China and North Korea to document a well-used trafficking route.
The women say their guide persuaded them to cross the ice-covered river and enter the North Korean territory. While returning back to the Chinese side, the women heard yelling and saw armed North Korean soldiers running toward them.
"We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us... They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained," they went on.
Speaking about their ordeal in North Korea, the reporters said that they were "not prepared" to talk about their imprisonment as "there are things that are still too painful to revisit."
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