( CNN ) -- The two U.S. journalists released from North Korea last month after five months in captivity said `` the psychological wounds of imprisonment are slow to heal . '' Freed U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee said they spent less than a minute on North Korean soil . In a column posted on the Los Angeles Times Web site Tuesday night , Laura Ling and Euna Lee also said they were seized by North Korean soldiers on Chinese soil . They raised suspicions about their guide and wondered if they had been `` lured into a trap . '' `` We did n't spend more than a minute on North Korean soil before turning back , but it is a minute we deeply regret , '' they said . Working for California-based Current TV , a media venture of Vice President Al Gore , the two journalists were arrested in March after stepping on North Korean soil . They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor and eventually pardoned by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il after he met with President Clinton early in August . Ling and Lee did n't go into much more detail about their experience in captivity , saying there are `` things that are still too painful to visit . '' But they provided information about the day of their arrest and reporting on North Korean defections to China and the human trafficking industry that supports them . Accompanied by a guide , the pair said they had been at the `` frozen '' Tumen River on March 17 separating China and North Korea `` to document a well-used trafficking route . '' `` As the sun appeared over the horizon , our guide stepped onto the ice . We followed him , '' they said , referring to a Korean-Chinese man they said has worked for foreign journalists . A producer , Mitch Koss , was also with them . The border between China and North Korea was not clearly marked , and it had no fences or barbed wire , they said . `` But we knew our guide was taking us closer to the North Korean side of the river . As he walked , he began making deep , low hooting sounds , which we assumed was his way of making contact with North Korean border guards he knew , '' they said . The journalists said that the guide told them he called people in North Korea the night before to arrange an interview , but that effort failed . However , he said he would show the journalists `` the no-man 's land along the river , where smugglers pay off guards to move human traffic from one country to another . '' `` When we set out , we had no intention of leaving China , but when our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river , we did , eventually arriving at the riverbank on the North Korean side . `` He pointed out a small village in the distance where he told us that North Koreans waited in safe houses to be smuggled into China via a well-established network that has escorted tens of thousands across the porous border , '' they wrote . The women said they became nervous and headed back to China . `` Midway across the ice , we heard yelling . We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us . Instinctively , we ran . We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us . '' They wrote that Koss and the guide outran the guards , but the two women got caught . `` We tried with all our might to cling to bushes , ground , anything that would keep us on Chinese soil , but we were no match for the determined soldiers . They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base , where we were detained . '' The women have raised doubts about their guide . They said he `` seemed cautious and responsible '' in the days before the capture , and noted he was always concerned `` about protecting our interview subjects and not taking unnecessary risks . '' `` In retrospect , the guide behaved oddly , changing our starting point on the river at the last moment and donning a Chinese police overcoat for the crossing , measures we assumed were security precautions . But it was ultimately our decision to follow him , and we continue to pay for that decision today with dark memories of our captivity . '' They said `` to this day , we still do n't know if we were lured into a trap . '' `` With guards right outside the room , we furtively destroyed evidence in our possession by swallowing notes and damaging videotapes . During rigorous , daily interrogation sessions , we took care to protect our sources and interview subjects , '' they wrote . The women said they were in that region of North Korea `` to raise awareness about the harsh reality facing these North Korean defectors who , because of their illegal status in China , live in terror of being sent back to their homeland . ''
Laura Ling and Laura Ling were arrested after stepping into China . Journalists were reporting on Korean defections to North Korea , human trafficking . `` We did n't spend a minute on North Korean soil , '' they wrote . In retrospect , they raise questions about guide 's involvement in capture .