The northeastern Chinese city of Yanji sits a quick 30 minute drive from the border of North Korea, and is one of the best posts for trying to glean the goings-on in that eremitic totalitarian state. Thousands of North Koreans, now refugees, live in the city as well as other cities and small villages in the area, a reward for escaping across the narrow and heavily guarded shallow Tumen River that marks the border between China and the brutal regime of Kim Jong Il. But untold numbers of North Koreans have been shot and killed there as well, and as two American reporters on assignment discovered last week, the waterway can also be treacherous for journalists.
It's believed that Laura Ling and Euna Lee of the San Francisco based Current TV were nabbed by North Korean border guards in the early morning hours after allegedly straying past the border, an unmarked halfway point on the frozen river. It's not a good idea "to behave like it's the Belgium-French border" says Andre Lankov, a North Korea expert who visited the area last summer and only approached the border when he was accompanied by Chinese police. Less than 50 meters across a frozen no man's land and "you're dealing with the world's most brutal government." A Chinese guide as well as another western colleague were reportedly with the women but they managed to get back to Chinese territory. The party was, according to one report, on the North Korean bank of the Tumen when they were accosted by the local authorities.
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