Thankfully, it looks like the story of Euna Lee and Laura Ling is not yet set to end with 12 years in a North Korean prison. Ex-Prez Bill Clinton is now reportedly on his way to Pyongyang to negotiate the release of the two American journalists. "As soon as he arrives, he will be entering negotiations with the North for the release of the female journalists," a Yonhap source was quoted as saying. Lee and Ling were sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp after being found guilty of illegal entry, espionage and hostility towards North Koreans. They had been filming along the border, allegedly shooting a documentary for Current TV on the human trafficking of North Korean women into China.
Bill Clinton heads to DPRK to discuss jailed American journos
American journalists on trial this week in North Korea
The trial for American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling in North Korea is coming up this Thursday, amidst rising tensions between Pyongyang and the rest of the world. The two women, who work for Al Gore's Current TV network in the U.S., were detained when they crossed the China-North Korea border in March.
Asian American journalists to be tried in North Korea on June 4
After nearly two months of being detained in North Korea, Asian-American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling will allegedly be put to trial on June 4, according to the AP. The DPRK's Korean Central News Agency did not reveal any other details, including what charges the two face. If they are accused of illegal entry, they could spend up to three years in a labor camp. If they are found to have engaged in “espionage” or “hostility towards North Koreans,” they could add five to 10 years in prison onto their sentence. Lee and Ling were caught filming along the China-DPRK border in March. Both were working for Current TV.
American journalists facing jail time in North Korea
Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were detained by North Korean while filming along the China-DPRK border in March, are now set to face trial for their “crimes.” Pyongyang has said that after an investigation into the matter, the women have been charged with illegally crossing the border and could face up to five years in prison if convicted of espionage. Both women were working for Current TV, a Al Gore-funded “youth” cable news channel in the United States. Source: BBC
North Korea detains American journalists filming along NK-China border
North Korea has confirmed that it's detaining two journalists it may have nabbed before they had even crossed the border from Chinese territory. The two women, Chinese-American Laura Ling and Korean-American Euna Lee, were accused of ignoring warnings to stop filming across the Tumen river.
Current TV: Chinatown, Africa
Angola is the fastest growing economy in Africa. It's GDP expanded 19.9% in 2006, 15% in 2007, and is likely to grow 16.30% this year. And China is playing a huge role in facilitating all that growth, improving Angolan infrastructure, building roads, railways, buildings and hospitals. This new report from Current TV offers a look at China's influence and impact in the ex-Portuguese colony today. It's 24 minutes long and well worth every minute of your time.
Video: Trip to the baijiu factory
Current TV's Zach Mexico is quickly becoming our favourite wino. After his trip to the Tsingtao beer factory in Qingdao, Zach makes his way to a baijiu factory, hung out with the locals and got himself piss drunk again. Don't miss that money shot towards the end!
Video: Tsingtao Beer in Qingdao
Zach Mexico and Li Du of Current TV head off to the Tsingtao Beer factory and Beer Town in Qingdao to get sloshed with locals and to investigate Qingdao's long beer history. We love those plastic bags of beer everyone's carrying about in Beer Town!
Video: China in a world without water
Is water the new oil? Current TV takes us around China for a look at the reservoirs that have dried up, the arable land that's turned into large swathes of desert, rivers in urban spaces that have become dumps for human and chemical waste and the people's lives that have been affected. It also highlights the army of environmental NGO's that have sprung up only recently and their battle against time.
Current TV: Burberry hits China
From Patrick Carr of Current TV:
The Burberry factory in Treorchy, Wales, closed down to much protest last year - but what happened after? In this pod we visit the Chinese factory and find that the same has happened again, with Chinese factory workers near the city losing their jobs as cheaper rural factories means the factory has moved again...
Current TV: Get Rich Quick in China
From Mike Healy of Current TV:
New China means new opportunity for young Brits eager to cash in on this emerging superpower. In this observational documentary we follow a consultancy firm specializing in helping young, entrepreneurial Brits start their own businesses in China...
Current TV: Branded New China
In this latest pod, Patrick Carr from Current TV takes us from Shenzhen to Shanghai and Beijing, and does a commendable job uncovering China's obsession with brands by looking at how affluent Chinese youth today are choosing to express themselves through fashion, nightlife and sports. Features Phil Dorman of Shanghai-based marketing agency Confucius Says.
Current TV: Three Gorges Dam Journey
Current TV's Sherif Soliman travels along the Three Gorges Dam Reservoir and does a commendable job of describing how life has changed for the 1.5 million people that were displaced by the project, which some experts have described as an environmental disaster in the making. We find in Soliman's observation that "nothing will get in the way of China's one-way ticket to modernisation" an eery echo of some of the statements that were made in that The Onion clip we showed you earlier.
Current TV: The Real Ting
Meet Harbinite tattooist Zhuo Danting through Ukachi Arinzeh's amazing piece of work on Current TV. We've long known about Zhuo on her website, but this is the first time we get to see her in action. Definitely one of Shanghai's coolest tattoo artists!
And while we're on the topic of Chinese youth...
... here's another video on Current TV by Kristy Wong who finds out that young people here will talk to her about anything and everything under the sun, except when it comes to anything remotely politically-related. To be fair though, what else was she expecting with the way she framed her questions? We wonder what her answers would be if she was being posed those same questions on CCTV.
China's booming sex industry
This is definitely one of the best pods we've seen on China's sex workers so far. Laura Ling of Current TV, goes around China and finds that the sex trade, while virtually non-existent 25 years ago, is now booming everywhere. She also almost got into trouble with some local mafia (which brought back some nasty flashbacks of our own encounters with them a few years ago), but fortunately she got away with it and her tape!
Current TV: The Big Move
You must have heard it many times by now that China is currently witnessing the biggest mass migration the world has ever known. The government says there are about 120 million migrant workers on the move, while some experts contend that there are over 200 million. They are building the apartments that you live in, the offices that you work in, and the malls that you shop in. What is life like for them? Current TV's Laura Ling tells us.
Shanghai Hooters
Friends of ours have joked before that they didn't believe Thomas L. Friedman when he proclaimed that "The World is Flat" till they saw the chests of the girls waitressing at Hooters here. Adrian Baschuk from Current TV checks out the Shanghai outlet (which has the distinction of being China's very first Hooters). He seemed to really like it and was even thinking of going back there for Thanksgiving!
Current TV: China's blood sellers
Even as UNAIDS is busy fighting allegations that it had inflated estimates for years in an alarmist effort to raise funds, Beijing has reported that HIV/AIDS cases are up more than 50% so far this year. Angela Sun of Current TV visits a village in Hebei Province (she did not say where exactly) where many of the residents contracted HIV through government-sponsored blood selling schemes. The plight of AIDS villages has been covered by many...
Yet another Gay Shanghai video
It must be really in vogue to shoot videos on Gay Shanghai now. Just last week, we showed you one that was shot by Adam Schokora for Danwei TV. Earlier this year, we told you about a slew of Chinese online gay TV shows, including 同志亦凡人 or Queer As Folk (in English) which featured a Gay Shanghai segment as well. And why would anyone doing a TV program on Gay China not want to come...
Current TV: Art says no to Mao
Superkiy of Current TV takes a look at the censorship of Chinese artists that took place before the opening of the 17th Party Congress. Fascinating interviews, and even more fascinating art! We loved, in particular, the statues of the female Mao's. We swear there's nothing like some good, dissident art to start our day with!

