Reporter held in N. Korea tells of ploy for release

CHICAGO - An American journalist imprisoned in North Korea for months after briefly crossing into the reclusive country while reporting about the sex trade said she told interrogators, in a ploy for mercy, that she was trying to overthrow the government.

In her first televised interview since her August release, Laura Ling said on The Oprah Winfrey Show that aired Tuesday that she was told the worst could happen if she didn't confess. Ling said she drew suspicion because she worked for San Francisco-based Current TV, a media venture founded by former Vice President Al Gore.

"I knew that that was the confession they wanted to hear, and I was told if you confess there may be forgiveness, and if you're not frank, if you don't confess, then the worst could happen," Ling said.

"It was the most difficult decision to have to do that," she said. "I didn't know if I was sealing my fate."

Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee, both of Los Angeles, were captured in March 2009. They acknowledge they briefly crossed into North Korea from China while reporting about North Korean women who were forced into the sex trade or arranged marriages when they defected to China.

They said they were seized by North Korean soldiers after they had already returned to Chinese soil.

They spent the first few days of their captivity in a 5-by-6-foot jail cell.

"There were no bars," she said, "so you couldn't see out. And if they closed those slats, it just went completely dark."

They were then moved to a Pyongyang guesthouse where Ling said conditions improved, but there were no showers and the power and water went out several times a day.

The women were convicted of illegal entry and "hostile acts" and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. "Once I heard those words, 12 years, come from the judge, I could barely stand upright," Ling said.

She said she spiraled into a depression, refused meals, and huddled in a dark corner. She said she sought strength by thinking about other innocent people imprisoned.

The women were pardoned in early August after a landmark trip to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton.

They were among four Americans detained by North Korea in less than a year for illegal entry.

Activist Robert Park of Arizona was expelled 40 days after crossing into North Korea last Christmas. Aijalon Mahli Gomes of Boston remains imprisoned after being arrested Jan. 25.

Ling appeared on Winfrey's show with her sister, journalist Lisa Ling, who is a correspondent for the program.