Anybody traveling to N Korea is nuts. They are beginning to hate everybody, including these days little ol' Malaysia. Anybody can end up a hostage.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/dennis-rodman-north-korea/
Hint: He endorsed tRump

I hope that the US government makes it clear to Americans traveling there. It should have a policy to provide minimal services to get them returned but be clear that they are basically on their own.

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/north-korea-travel-warning.html

The government can warn people but it can't protect them from being stupid.

They do not have a right to escape the consequences of their stupidity, but sometimes they are granted that privilege.

My point was that the warning system that you suggested be in place already exists.

to leave NK at this time.

Last edited Sun May 7, 2017, 11:40 AM - Edit history (1)

Like those guys who get arrested by Iran because they're walking inside the border on a hiking trip. Or those others who got picked up in North Korea before when they went across the border illegally. Or that young man who is serving time in prison there for stealing a govt sign from his hotel lobby wall on a lark, when his group was on a tour excursion from China. How stupid do you have to be to do that? And I question the wisdom of the group going on an excursion into North Korea.

.... he told graduates "you will meet a lot of people who are book smart but have zero common sense."


These are the folks who have zero common sense.

the hate for the US is real . I am fine with just photos or documentaries ......

that goes to places like NK should not expect our government to come save them. You see this time and time again. Someone goes to a country that hates us, then expects to be rescued by our government. No more.

maybe it is NK gospel that Kim Il Sung discovered the theory of relativity and you can get in trouble that way?

The school is funded by evangelical religious groups.

They are aware of the risk they are taking.

He is truly being persecuted for being a Christian. Like the real way. Not like the "persecution" suffered here by those who can't force their views on everyone else.

I mean, yeah, when you look at it their way, getting locked up means they're doing it right.

It's too bad that Protestants don't give out "sainthood" awards for these feats of perseverance. But the mindset of "faith in the face of persecution" equips them for it psychologically. The worse it gets, they know the better they're doing.

Don't be surprised with the outcome.

Now the State Department is devoting time and resources to extracting an American citizen who, upon realizing the consequences; engaged in an activity which they knew would not be tolerated.

Isn't there a mega-church millionaire that can fund this?

It pointed out that the program existed and made it high profile. It was against the program, not because it proselytized--it made clear that such things were carefully monitored and the curriculum carefully controlled--but because it helped the North.

It also made the participants higher profile. Much higher.


At the same time, it's nice to know there are still countries that buy and sell people. Yet in this case, we find reasons to blame and shame those captured and held until the right purchase price can be found.



Yet we go out of our way to exculpate somebody who abandons his post and lets himself be captured by the enemy, or reporters who go behind enemy lines under cover and make contact with either subversive groups in enemy-held territory or with the enemy himself.

I think the perceived inconsistency you are making perhaps does not capture the preliminary assessment of whether the pursuit is ultimately worthwhile. Getting North Koreans out of one oppressive system of mind control into another one, is a topic on which opinions may vary.

There is a substantial evangelization effort going on, under ground rules which are there for testing. The problem seems to have arisen through recent reportage on how the organization is funded.

And, sure, to the extent that I am sure these people may be contacted for interviews or more voluntary confidential debriefing on what sliver of perspective they may provide on internal conditions, they provide valuable information.

They do have an agenda, however, on which minds may differ.

They are big on the "Paul converted his jailers" thing.

What...he was breathing?

the Gropenfuhrer, said the North Korean problem "would be taken care of". I'm sure it will happen any minute now.

I'm beginning to lose my empathy for these idiots.

Let me guess: he "accidentally forgot" his Bible at a restaurant, and the cops hauled him in for it.

Last edited Mon May 8, 2017, 09:32 AM - Edit history (1)

trump is itching for a war to say his presidency from the Russian collusion investigation.

The story behind Clinton's trip to North Korea

updated 2:51 p.m. EDT, Wed August 5, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It took a U.S. former president with global celebrity status to free two American journalists from a North Korea prison.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee arrived back in the United States Wednesday morning with former President Bill Clinton, who flew to North Korea to negotiate their release after they were sentenced to a labor camp.

<snip>

Some heavyweights were turned down by the North Koreans: former Vice President Al Gore, a co-founder of the media outfit the women were working for when they were arrested, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations whose previous missions to North Korea included negotiating the release of a detained American.

Lower-level envoys such as former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current Korea Society Chairman Donald Gregg, Sig Harrison, an expert on North Korean nukes who has traveled there several times, and Han Park, a scholar at the University of Georgia, all offered their services.

Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was also closely involved in coordinating efforts with the White House and State Department to free the women.

According to sources intimately involved with the efforts, Sen. John Kerry -- chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- received an official invitation to visit Pyongyang to facilitate their release and open a larger dialogue on the nuclear issue after several weeks of quiet direct diplomacy between Kerry and his aides and North Korea.

In the end, it was Clinton whom North Korea wanted.

More: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/05/nkorea.journalists.background/