these women are no more "journalists" than Michelle Malkin is. They are more or less liberal Democrat social commentators...with a camera No more, no less. From the North Korean side they are quite naturally seen as troublemakers at best, spies and threats at worst. It is a wonder they were not shot. Fact is, they got caught. I remember seeing in particular one of them reporting on drug wars and really pushing the cameramen to get close and take footage of massacred Mexicans sitting in a car, against the wishes of Mexican policemen on hand. One can only guess she was the same kind of "risk taker" up there on the DPRK border in March with her colleagues. IMHO (and I was not there), they should never had gotten that close to North Korean border guards if they knew the true nature of them. You are right; two liberal journalists held by an enemy bent on destroying South Korea and Japan (including US troops in those places) do not take precedent over the security of our allies and our US troops in the region. But they are certainly a
cause celibre of household liberals everywhere, who up until now could not give a single fart about North Korea and the realities there for millions of others before Laura and Euna even crossed over into Hell. You can bet your bottom dollar there would be no such Hollywood-type vigil and outcry if this were Michelle Malkin seized, or somebody from Newsmax, or Worldnet Daily or New American or Human Events that was seized up there on the Tumen River.
I hope Conservatives are not dragged into this thing foolishly. While one hopes for their release, they cannot trump US national security or larger geopolitical concerns when it comes to North Korea. Obama better not send Al Gore up there to secretly barter with a price we have in mind which we can NOT afford at this critical time.