For a small country that is an awful lot of prison camps. 200,000 in the camps and 400,000 dead from the camps – that is a lot of suffering. How does North Korea believe it can join the global community with a record like this? Its almost medieval.

Sounds more like the re-education camps of long ago Cambodia. Why are we (and I mean the world when I say WE) allowing this to happen? Is it because there's no oil industry there? I don't understand.

almost medieval? Im pretty sure a country that only what 10% have electricity and cant or wont feed its own population is medieval.

Is there anyway they can appeal this im just in shock that these women have 12yrs. and one has a child its crazy.

So our gov't or military does not havge the intelligence to get those reporters out of that "3rd world country"...????

NK is not interested in joining the global community. Until the US and the rest of the world understand Juche, you will never understand NK. The world operates on cultural identity, as we all do. Within cultures are subcultures that band together for their own survival. In studying the US foreign policy since I was 12 years old, the US continues to make grave mistakes in trying to enforce laws and dictate policy that actually have backfired.

We should have listened to Macarther and stormed through North Korea and into China. He said that future generations would regret us not, well now we are....

What horrible crimes are North Koreans committing to have all these prison camps open? Does North Korea think that anyone is cooperate with them now? We need to put a stop to this unjust and horrible behavior.

Kim maybe you should educate yourself about the issue before you make a moronic statement like that, it might have something to do with the 2 million plus soldiers North Korea has or the fact that the last time we went to war with NK it lasted 3 years with close to 425K civilians deaths. Seoul, Japan and Alaska are all within missile range of NK missiles. Not to mention that if could lead to a large war in asia with millions of refugees heading to china to escape fighting.

"flexing their muscles"

they feel "a strength" by keeping them

I agree with derek..it has nothing to do with oil. North Korea is scary...praying now that the sentence has been decided...negotations can begin to get these women released!!!

These are like the "reeducation camps" more like Concentration camps of Vietnam. It's the communist way. My father survived 1.5 years in one of those.

Maybe now we will strike NK with some teeth now that American citizens are imprisoned in the gulags. It's time to use our Special Forces and CIA SAG teams for that for which they've been trained.. Free our citizens and liberate the brutalized people of North Korea. Stop letting Jong-Il act like a spoiled child!

You people never want to remember history

North Korea has acted like this since the Korean War 1950-1953.
You never mention the treatment by the Red Chinese and North Koreans of American and United Nations prisoners of war. The brainwashing of POWs to think as communists.

You fail to mention the history of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) which was boarded and captured by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 23 January 1968. Fireman Apprentice Duane Hodges, was killed.
Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, Commanding Officer of the Pueblo, was tortured with his crew. He was put through a mock firing squad in an effort to make him confess. The Koreans threatened to execute his 82 living men in front of him.
The Administration of Lyndon Johnson could do nothing. Richard M. Nixon was elected president on November 5, 1968.
23 December 1968, exactly 11 months after being taken prisoner, the Captain led the long line of crewmen, followed at the end by the Executive Officer, Lieutenant Ed Murphy, the last man across the bridge.

While North Korea and their continued abuses of human rights must not be tolerated, perhaps we could take a page out of their playbook and create prison camps here at home and fill them with corporate executives and members of the House & Senate.

This dictator is nothing but a thug! Where is Al Gore here, these women are his employees!
How can we allow our citizens to be prisoners of a thug! If we are at war let's get our girls back NOW!

Those two women are good as dead. They will be raped first by the high ranking commanding officers then the soldiers. There are normally seperate camps for women and men. In the women camps, women are used as labor's and as comfort women. The North Koreans got this idea from the Japanese during the occupation in World War II. My heart, thoughts, and prayers go out the family, but on a serious note, the only way to get these two out is to send in a team of special forces. Military action is needed if they want to get these two out.

Where is all the Human Rights activist?

No one travels to North Korea, this means that the government is holding in it's prison wall for the majority the citizens of North Korea for no good reason.

The government starves the people.

Where are the stupid Human Rights activist? Did it finally take 2 journalist to be jailed in N. Korea for the media to wake up?

You guys are LAME-O.

Although history has proven that war could and would pull a state out of an economic slump, I believe that this is not the time to start a war with North Korea. The combined weight of the two efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq are certainly enough.

In the event of an attempt at fighting aggression with aggression, especially by freeing the women by force, the US will see the scales tip heavily in this way, however.

It will be interesting to see if North Korea will maintain or escalate his defiant stance, especially when ailing Kim Jong-il inevitably steps down to his son.

Well....this is refreshing CNN actually showing the bad guys and prison camps....not an actual torture nation....nah....I thought we were....well how do like that.....do they waterboard too with a doctor standing by. Well this is on Obama's watch....if N Korea and Iran go nuclear....not going to able to blame Bush. These reporters will cost the US a bunch...again reporters being in the wrong place at the wrong time...and now it's an American problem.

U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea???? How about U.S. Committee for Human Rights in USA?? Guantanamo? Abu Graib??? We need to start by giving the example to other countries to ask that they treat us the same way we want... Let´s see all the tortured detainees in Gitmo, How many of them have actually been sentenced? NONE!