June 4 trial date for American journalists in North Korea

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both reporters for Current TV, will be tried in a North Korean court on June 4, 2009 for entering the country illegally and planning “hostile acts.” Ling and Lee were picked up along North Korea‘s border with China on March 17, 2009

Anybody want to guess how this one will end?

According to reports by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which is controlled by the state, the two reporters have been allowed contact with a consulate. Since the United States does not maintain diplomatic relations with the reclusive Communist state, they met with a representative from the Swedish embassy. Sweden plays the consular role for visitors (willing or otherwise) from many western countries.

What’s missing is a clear description of the charges. It is unclear what the reporters were doing. This will make it difficult to bring the affair to a conclusion.

Though it’s speculation at this point, the charges could carry prison terms of up to two years.

Photojournalist Offers Glimpses into the Muslim World

by Josh Lew on

Veteran photojournalist Alexandra Avakian has spent much of her twenty-plus year career working for prestigious magazines like Time and National Geographic and newspapers like The NY Times. Much of her work has been focused on the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Northern Africa. Stints in Iran, Somalia, Gaza and amongst American Muslims has given her ample opportunity to photograph the adherents of Islam in many different settings, both religious and cultural. A sampling of some of her best work is coming out in a photo-book published by Nat Geo. It is titled Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World. Avakian has also started a blog, which has the same title as her book, on National Geographic’s web site. The blog is an interesting introduction to her work. Avakian reminisces about things like visiting a movie set in Iran and learning how the country’s leading actress got around the strict theocratic laws by donning wigs and being hush-hush while applying make-up. While Avakian has by no means produced a definitive work on Muslims (I don’t think that was her goal), she offers a unique and human take on a culture that is often in the press, but not usually seen in-depth.

[Via American Photo’s State of the Art]