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"Current TV&amp;amp;#8217;s Laura Ling and Euna Lee went to Asia this spring to investigate a chilling situation: the plight of women who cross the border from North Korea into China to escape starvation, only to fall prey to human traffickers. Then, suddenly, the journalists became the story, arrested for stepping into North Korean territory and thrown into jail. For 140 nightmarish days Ling, 32, and Lee, 37, bided their time, expecting to be sent to a hard-labor camp for the next 12 years. While the U.S. worked diplomatic channels to negotiate their release, Laura&amp;amp;#8217;s sister, Lisa Ling, an investigative TV journalist, kept the case in the public eye. Finally, on August 4, President Bill Clinton flew to Korea and brokered their freedom. Ling, a reporter, and Lee, a producer, have spent years uncovering society&amp;amp;#8217;s ills, from slave labor in Brazil to India&amp;amp;#8217;s HIV crisis, and their work has earned them worldwide admiration. &amp;amp;#8220;Laura and Euna&amp;amp;#8217;s commitment to expose a terrible situation led to their arrest,&amp;amp;#8221; says Clothilde Le Coz of Reporters Without Borders USA. &amp;amp;#8220;But we depend on women like them to make sure the truth gets told.&amp;amp;#8221; And that truth is brutal. &amp;amp;#8220;Refugee women are sold like livestock,&amp;amp;#8221; forced into prostitution or to be the wives of peasants, says Lee. Adds Ling, &amp;amp;#8220;They&amp;amp;#8217;re trading one horror for another.&amp;amp;#8221; Prison life was hard on the duo. &amp;amp;#8220;While I was away from my daughter&amp;amp;#8221;&amp;amp;#8212;five-year-old Hana&amp;amp;#8212;&amp;amp;#8220;I felt my heart might explode,&amp;amp;#8221; says Lee. Lisa Ling says, &amp;amp;#8220;I am so in awe of my little sister&amp;amp;#8217;s strength. I hope Laura and Euna&amp;amp;#8217;s experience propels people to address the humanitarian crisis of trafficking.&amp;amp;#8221; Laura Ling wants no sympathy, just change: &amp;amp;#8220;To take risks to draw attention to these women is part of our job. It&amp;amp;#8217;s why I do what I do.&amp;amp;#8221; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/inspired/women-of-the-year/2009/euna-lee-and-laura-ling>