Laura Ling Speaks at Ball State University

Laura Ling at Ball State University: Mapping the Journey of Hope

Journalist Laura Ling presented “Journey of Hope” at Ball State University’s Pruis Hall last night. Ling recounted her time in captivity in North Korea and showed a video featuring footage from assignments in Mexico, Myanmar, Turkey, and other places around the world for the Current Network.

The National Geographic map of China (click to enlarge) shows the border with North Korea where Ling and journalist Euna Lee were captured along the Tumen River in March 2009. After being sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, Ling was allowed to return to the United States after diplomatic efforts by President Clinton.

During the presentation, Ling described North Korea as literally a “black hole.” She referenced seeing a satellite map of the world with South Korea lit up “like Las Vegas on steroids” and North Korea literally appearing completely dark on the map. Details from the National Geographic Earth at Night satellite map shown above graphically demonstrates this fact with both South Korea and Japan shown with white lights and North Korea nearly invisible.

These maps are available for research and learning in the GIS Research and Map Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library. Maps circulate for two weeks or longer. For more information, please call 765-285-1097.