As the sun set Thursday over California's Capitol, more than 300 locals implored a capital 5,600 miles away to free jailed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee from a North Korean prison.
"Bring them home, bring them home," the crowd chanted at several points during the one-hour rally.
The vigil on the Capitol steps had two messages – that the North Korean government should release the women and the U.S. government should do more to intervene.
"She just needs the help of our government," said Lisa Ling, Laura's sister and a fellow journalist. "Only through the government does she have the hope of being released."
Lee, 36, and Laura Ling, 32, reporting for Current TV, were at the border of China and North Korea on March 17 to report on trafficking of women there when they were arrested by North Korean police and propelled into the international spotlight.
Ling and Lee were convicted of illegally crossing into North Korea by that country's highest court last month and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
After weeks of hoping that keeping a low profile would help bring the two home, Ling's family has changed strategy in recent days, launching a media offensive.
In addition to Thursday's rally, Lisa Ling has conducted local and national interviews, and supporters have launched a Web site, www.lauraandeuna.com/.
"We didn't speak out for a while because the situation is so sensitive … but now we feel like we have to speak out and have to ask our government to ask the North Korean government for amnesty," Lisa Ling said in an interview after the vigil.
In the interview, she described a Tuesday call she received from her sister.
"This call was very different," she said. "It was very deliberate and decisive. (Laura) basically said, 'We violated the law, we are terribly sorry and now we need help.' "
Lisa Ling said she didn't know if Laura was speaking under duress. She said her sister had notes, but she believed the words to be Laura's own.
"I don't think they were someone else's words," she said.
The Ling sisters grew up in Carmichael and graduated from Del Campo High School.
Thursday's rally isn't the first Sacramento event in support of Laura Ling and Lee, but this is the first time Ling's family has been present, with her sister, father and husband Iain Clayton speaking.
The vigil also included remarks from Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Sacramento County Supervisor Jimmie Yee, and Laura's longtime friends Takoa Stathem and Cheryll Marsh.
Lisa Ling said the vigil would lift her sister's spirits but that diplomacy ultimately would have to win out – despite the icy relationship between the United States and North Korea.
"At the end of the day, we are victims of a relationship that doesn't exist between our two countries," Lisa Ling said.
"Even expressing a simple sentence or a thought is an effort."
Call The Bee's Ed Fletcher, (916) 321-1269.
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