in March of 2009 I was working on a
documentary about North Korean defectors
people who are fleeing the very
desperate conditions in North Korea and
during that time we were filming along
the Tumen River this is the river that
separates China and North Korea and it
was frozen at the time and so we were
literally standing on that frozen river
when two North Korean soldiers spotted
us they chased us into China and then
very violently dragged my colleague Yuna
Lee and me across that river into North
Korea in the middle of the night while
my husband and I were sleeping my
sister’s husband called and he said
Laura was abducted by North Korean
soldiers and my heart just sank was
pretty bruised up and bloodied and I
just I just tried to keep my wits about
me but I was I was so scared
we’re eventually transferred to
Pyongyang Yoona and I were separated for
the remainder of our captivity and and
that’s when the real formal
interrogation began and I was grilled
every day for four hours on end
day after day one of the most difficult
parts was trying to convince them that I
was not a spy it didn’t help that the
co-founder and chairman of the company
that I worked for at the time current TV
was former Vice President Al Gore so
that immediately made them suspicious
that I had ties to the government one
day my interrogator came in and he was
carrying a file and it was all about my
sister and the project she worked on
he was very upset very upset very
suspicious and he immediately accused
both Lisa and me of trying to bring down
the North Korean government Yuna and I
became the first Americans to be tried
in North Korea’s highest court on the
day of our sentencing the judge and his
two associates left the room to
deliberate they left for five minutes
and they returned with their judgment
and that was 12 years of hard labor back
in 2006 we interviewed a North Korean
defector who had spent time in one of
the notorious North Korean prisons and
he described it as just an absolutely
heinous and insidious place to be and so
the thought of my sister going there was
just unimaginable and I was terrified I
was absolutely terrified the judge
shouted no forgiveness no appeal and I
just clutched on to the podium I was
standing at a podium and I just clutched
on to it to keep from falling over
[Music]
you
documentary about North Korean defectors
people who are fleeing the very
desperate conditions in North Korea and
during that time we were filming along
the Tumen River this is the river that
separates China and North Korea and it
was frozen at the time and so we were
literally standing on that frozen river
when two North Korean soldiers spotted
us they chased us into China and then
very violently dragged my colleague Yuna
Lee and me across that river into North
Korea in the middle of the night while
my husband and I were sleeping my
sister’s husband called and he said
Laura was abducted by North Korean
soldiers and my heart just sank was
pretty bruised up and bloodied and I
just I just tried to keep my wits about
me but I was I was so scared
we’re eventually transferred to
Pyongyang Yoona and I were separated for
the remainder of our captivity and and
that’s when the real formal
interrogation began and I was grilled
every day for four hours on end
day after day one of the most difficult
parts was trying to convince them that I
was not a spy it didn’t help that the
co-founder and chairman of the company
that I worked for at the time current TV
was former Vice President Al Gore so
that immediately made them suspicious
that I had ties to the government one
day my interrogator came in and he was
carrying a file and it was all about my
sister and the project she worked on
he was very upset very upset very
suspicious and he immediately accused
both Lisa and me of trying to bring down
the North Korean government Yuna and I
became the first Americans to be tried
in North Korea’s highest court on the
day of our sentencing the judge and his
two associates left the room to
deliberate they left for five minutes
and they returned with their judgment
and that was 12 years of hard labor back
in 2006 we interviewed a North Korean
defector who had spent time in one of
the notorious North Korean prisons and
he described it as just an absolutely
heinous and insidious place to be and so
the thought of my sister going there was
just unimaginable and I was terrified I
was absolutely terrified the judge
shouted no forgiveness no appeal and I
just clutched on to the podium I was
standing at a podium and I just clutched
on to it to keep from falling over
[Music]
you
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