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North Korea 'detains American citizen'

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M

Moppeh

Banned
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39683518

An American citizen has been detained in North Korea as he tried to leave the country, South Korean media say.
The man was identified only by his surname, Kim.

...

The South Korean news agency Yonhap said the detained American citizen, in his 50s, was a former professor from Yanbian University in China and had been in North Korea for a month in connection with relief programmes.
He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport, Yonhap said.
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I searched and didn't find anything so detain me if old.
 
R

rjinaz

Member
Engell said:
still don't get why people feel the need to visit ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Beautiful country, don't believe the propaganda. That thread still amazes me.

That said, it seems like this man was trying to do some good, just from what I have vaguely read. Not on a vacation.
 
W

wanderingprostheyltite

Member
Was about to joke about bargaining chips and all but saw this:

Ahn Chan-il – director of the World North Korea Research Center in Seoul – said the North may be intending to use Pofessor Kim as "leverage" in negotiations with South Korea and the US.
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Have they actually had a record of doing this kind of thing before explicitly for negotiation purposes?
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
rjinaz said:
Beautiful country, don't believe the propaganda. That thread still amazes me.

That said, it seems like this man was trying to do some good, just from what I have vaguely read. Not on a vacation.
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doesn't matter how beautiful it is if the fear of being detained and held hostage is very much a reality.
 
B

BannedEpisode

Member
Engell said:
still don't get why people feel the need to visit ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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If I was ever given the realistic opportunity I would do it in a heartbeat. It would be an experience unlike anything else. Realistic meaning safe and logistically sensible.

With that said, the morality of giving a country like that any sort of income coupled with the reality that I could be used as a political bargaining chip make it a non starter for me.

Some people don't have those two reservations so they do it. Others go for charitable reasons.
 
H

Herr Schwarz

Banned
rjinaz said:
Beautiful country, don't believe the propaganda. That thread still amazes me.

That said, it seems like this man was trying to do some good, just from what I have vaguely read. Not on a vacation.
Click to expand...

Yeah sure beautiful country. But I'd wager most govt visiting advice bureau would warn that getting abducted is a possibility.

Like Afghanistan, nice country but high probability of shit happening.

But since its an aid worker it's a bit different but at the same time I'm sure the risks were made abundantly clear to the guy.

Man I heard a story about an.english teacher getting abducted there and he.had a family back home. Later on in years he reappears in N.Korea with a new wife and kids or something.

Kind of like a fucked up version of Last Samurai
 
M

Moppeh

Banned
rpmurphy said:
With the self-proclaimed "Great Negotiator" as POTUS, I fear this man is shit out of luck. :(
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To be fair, didn't they just negotiate the release of someone out of Egypt?

Of course, the situation is different but maybe there's the tiniest sliver of a chance that they can help this guy. I doubt it, though.
 
C

CountAntonius

Member
Is North Korea delusional? Like do they actually believe they can win this or do they enjoy blowing smoke thinking nobody takes them seriously?
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
CountAntonius said:
Is North Korea delusional? Like do they actually believe they can win this or do they enjoy blowing smoke thinking nobody takes them seriously?
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North Korea is not a country. It is a long running protection racket. And it has worked. The people in charge don't give a shit about the peasants. The ruling class needs to keep this charade going as long as they can remain safe and comfortable. The internal part is a cult of personality, the external part is the threat of nuclear attack, and sadly, the threat of its own people starving and dying. Maintaining this balance has been everyone's job for fifty years and in that regard, North Korea always "wins" these.

It all collapses they second anyone carries out a threat. If they fire a nuke or a barrage Seiul with artillery, it ends tomorrow, and the world has to clean up one of the biggest messes in history. Letting their cadre of elites eat caviar and act like fucking idiots is cheaper than the alternative. NK leadership knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that they only exist as long as this status quo continues. they have no interest in making it better at all.
 
J

Jombie

Member
Traveling there wouldn't be worth the fear and paranoia. Just because you're a tourist doesn't give you immunity from being detained.
 
I

iammeiam

Member
This prompted me to go back and check and see if anything had happened with Otto Warmbier, the American college student sentenced to 15 years for allegedly going onto a forbidden floor in his hotel and removing a propaganda poster from the wall, then leaving it on the floor. There's video of the incident but no way to identify the person in it, nothing was taken, and the NK assertion that he was going to be paid by the US government for the theft in order to undermine the DPRK means some level of bullshit in the whole proceeding..

He's still there, over a year later. NK being what it is, it's going to be fucking impossible to tell if whatever charges they're leveling against the newest detainee are based in reality or fabricated, but I worry that after the initial news coverage he'll just be left there. There is a lot of shit that technically counts as illegal in North Korea he could have run afoul of, but it's not like they wouldn't just fake charges if they're trying to get leverage anyway.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
.JayZii said:
North Korea is a fatalistic cult in its dying days.
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You know... I'm actually betting against it dying at this point. They're gonna get that nuke and become a minor power eventually.

America is looking at launching a pre-emptive strike to prevent this, but I just don't think the logic will ever be there to endanger Seoul. If the tipping point didn't happen at any point in the last 60 years... what would make it tip today? We're just gonna let NK get nuclear capability and then they'll be stable indefinitely.
 
J

.JayZii

Banned
BocoDragon said:
You know... I'm actually betting against it dying at this point. They're gonna get that nuke and become a minor power eventually.

America is looking at launching a pre-emptive strike to prevent this, but I just don't think the logic will ever be there to endanger Seoul. If the tipping point didn't happen at any point in the last 60 years... what would make it tip today? We're just gonna let NK get nuclear capability and then they'll be stable indefinitely.
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Possible, but I don't see the cult of personality lasting after the current soft boy. Who knows?
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
.JayZii said:
Possible, but I don't see the cult of personality lasting after the current soft boy. Who knows?
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Yeah who knows.

Seems to me that a more prosperous NK would eventually get a Deng Xiaopeng or Nikita Khrushchev who de-emphasize the cult of personality. But it definitely isn't close to happening any time soon.

I remember people predicting the end of the cult when Jong Il was sick...
 
X

Xyphie

Member
I'd bet he's charged with proselytizing Christianity. The university he works in China is basically a Christian mission in disguise (and they also have a NK branch).
 
R

rjinaz

Member
Bruce Springsteen said:
With Trump's master negotiating skills, this should be no issue
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mXyupD1.gif
 
Peterthumpa

Peterthumpa

Member
Toth said:
Is that kid that took a stop sign (or something similar) still there?
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Yes, and the Swedish embassy (to whom the US communicates since there's no US diplomatic presence in NK) hasn't heard from North Korea about him for 17 months already.
 
Compsiox

Compsiox

Banned
felipepl said:
Yes, and the Swedish embassy (to whom the US communicates since there's no US diplomatic presence in NK) hasn't heard from North Korea about him for 17 months already.
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Thats fucking awful. He was sent to do 15 years of hard labor in prison. Looks like he might actually have to do his time.
 
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