[Gmac]

Clearly scripted and under duress. Guy is still an idiot for trying to get into North Korea at all.

[Suits]

(02-29-2016 03:12 PM)Chrome Wrote:  

No First World native English speaker calls legal procedures "fair and square" or prays "to the heavens". No doubt under duress. He is quite eloquent and measured in his speech, though. Must have rehearsed it a thousand times with his life on the line.

That's the thing about East Asians. They have a shocking lack of awareness of how hard exactly it is to speak English properly.

The English textbooks here are all written by locals who have clearly never had a conversation with a native English speaker. They literally teach idioms and phrases that are 90 years out of date. It fills me with fury and dissatisfaction every time I get a text from a girl that includes the phrase "what a pity!"

There's a odd sense of superiority in the East regarding their special ability to speak other nation's languages...except that they can't. It's terribly transparent, as the case above indicates, even to a casual, untrained observer.

[Quintus Curtius]

He's likely been subjected to a 48-hour interrogation, with strong physical incentives, let's just say. He's doing what he has to do to get out of there in one piece.

He's a fool, of course, for thinking you can play games with North Korea. That country is no joke and they will not miss a single opportunity to humiliate, coerce, shame, or harm the US, for the slightest reason, real or imaginary.

It's sad and pathetic in many ways.

[la bodhisattva]

(02-29-2016 12:15 PM)porscheguy Wrote:  

Am I the only one who feels no sympathy for this clown?

Are American students still so brainwashed with "hope and change", and "yes we can" that some lone dipshit thinks he can go to an openly hostile country, engage in shit stirring, and not end up in this position?

I hope.

Misguided behavior is misguided behavior. Is it wise for an American to travel to NK without the clandestine backing of CNN, Fox, ABC, CBS, or NBC? No. To deface something while there? Absolutely inexcusably stupid. Who knows what has and can happen[ed] to this man for an idiotic affront to an idiotic law. I am sympathetic to a person who most likely endured torture for committing a ridiculous "crime."

Imagine homeowners in the West were given sovereign rule over their property and you were locked in someone's cellar because while you were visiting you thought Pepsi may just be as good as Coke. That's how crazy NK is.

As for the "hope and change" and "yes we can", if there is one national on this planet that legitimately needs extreme worldwide intervention, it's NK.

[El Chinito loco]

North Korea just handed this dumbass 15 years of hard labor.

Now the state department will have to go to extraordinary lengths to secure a reduced sentence or negotiate with economic concessions on the table to free his dopey ass. I said before that North Korea is known for being extremely irrational when it comes to things like this. Fucking around in that country is no joke at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/world/...p=cur&_r=0

Quote:

SEOUL, South Korea — An American student who tearfully apologized for trying to steal a political propaganda poster in his hotel in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for subversion on Wednesday, news agencies reported.

The student, Otto F. Warmbier, 21, an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, was convicted after a one-hour trial Wednesday morning at the country’s Supreme Court, according to The Associated Press, which has a bureau in Pyongyang. The Japanese news agency Kyodo and the Chinese state-run Xinhua agency also covered the conviction and sentencing. There was no immediate report from North Korea’s state-run news media.

The sentence is the latest penalty that North Korea has meted out to a small number of American tourists, missionaries and journalists in recent years for what have been deemed antistate crimes, including accusations of illegal entry and leaving a Bible behind in a hotel.

Mr. Warmbier was detained on Jan. 2 as he was about to board a plane to leave North Korea. In late February, he offered a tearful apology at a government-arranged news conference in Pyongyang, where he said he had tried to take the political poster as a trophy for a member of a church in the United States. It was impossible to determine whether Mr. Warmbier had been coerced into making the statements.

The reports on Wednesday came less than a day after a longtime American diplomat, Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico, met with two North Korean officials in New York to urge Mr. Warmbier’s release on humanitarian grounds.

[bacon]

I don't think he will get too much sympathy from the American public with a sentence of 15 years of hard labor. Obviously, this is a pretty serious punishment for the crime but because he is a 21 year old from an Ivy League school it is clear this wasn't a mistake made out of stupidity. He tried to steal a political poster from one of the most authoritative and xenophobic countries in the world and got caught.

He knew not to fuck around with North Korea but impressing some girl's mother with this souvenir justified the risk to him.

I would respect the dude if he was being imprisoned for filming evidence of human rights abuse in North Korea but getting caught for stealing a political poster shows he was only concerned with improving HIS monetary or possibly sexual options.

[Chauncey]

(02-29-2016 10:30 PM)RIslander Wrote:  

They're not going to kill him or sentence him to prison for stealing a banner. Dumbass kid gets a few months in what is probably a decent jail, is publicly humiliated and then released. +1 North Korea.

Not a bad guess.

[AWright]

I do feel bad, when I was younger I did stupid shit but I wasn't in North Korea.

[spokepoker]

Didn't they give this same punishment to Lisa Ling?
Is this their go-to punishment for foreigners?

[Bushido]

I previously had an opportunity to go to North Korea which didn't work out.

Seeing things like this makes me glad I never went.

15 years of hard labour may as well be the death sentence - especially for a millenial like this one with a weak mind and body. The country is one big concentration camp.

[dispenser]

A soft man who expected soft treatment in a barbarian country.
Westerners are children into their twenties these days...

[Horus]

If I were him, I would put a positive spin on the situation and consider it a total immersion Korean language opportunity. And best of all, it will be free of charge!

[Buakaw]

(02-29-2016 12:49 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  

Wait... he literally tried to get an actual North Korean flag? That's not what we meant. That's not what we meant at all.

Did we just fuck this guys life up?

   

[RIslander]

I wouldn't be surprised if he never even broke the law in NK. These people are always looking to pin crimes on US citizens. You'd have to be nuts to travel to NK as a tourist.

[El Chinito loco]

(03-16-2016 05:08 AM)Horus Wrote:  

If I were him, I would put a positive spin on the situation and consider it a total immersion Korean language opportunity. And best of all, it will be free of charge!

Someone needs to write a return of kings article about this trolling SJW's and call it a unique cultural North Korean homestay and holistic weight loss program.

[They Call Me Mister Tony]

I have no sympathy for this kid.

What was he doing in North Korea anyway?

And to do something stupid like steal one of the country's flags? He deserves it for not obeying the rules.

[Mike5055]

You assume he actually stole a flag. Given it's N. Korea, there's a chance he didn't do anything wrong.

That said, why do people, especially Americans, go to N. Korea? That's just asking for trouble.

[spokepoker]

I thought he took one of the propaganda posters from the hotel's walls.
Still seems like a ploy by NK to get another visit from some US vip.

[Duke Castile]

As always I'm shocked at some of the things you faggots say when something horrible happens to another human being.

You motherfuckers try to act so hard "I have no sympathy, guys a dumbass". blah blah blah.

That kid's life is fucking OVER.

Every last one of you have done something much worse, been caught, and nothing happened.

"Oh well he should have respected the rules of the country".

Are you dumbfucks really taking the word of the Korean gov't as the Gospel?

Idiots.

edit - This is you guys' shitty way of virtue signaling

[Quintus Curtius]

(03-17-2016 12:06 AM)spokepoker Wrote:  

I thought he took one of the propaganda posters from the hotel's walls.
Still seems like a ploy by NK to get another visit from some US vip.

That's exactly what it is. North Korea is a depraved, sadistic regime. They basically take hostages of tourists whenever they feel like it, accuse them of bullshit "crimes" like not bowing to a statute of the Dear Leader, and then detaining them until the US buys them off with a big wad of cash.

This is a criminal government.

In fact, it's so bad that I almost think that the US should strongly discourage any citizen from visiting that place, for any reason.

[Phoenix]

(03-17-2016 01:10 AM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

In fact, it's so bad that I almost think that the US should strongly discourage any citizen from visiting that place, for any reason.

Unless it's "to foment armed overthrow". Trump should have that put on US travel advisories.

[JacksonRev]

They'd basically do this to you in the US Military if you took down the Sexual Harassment and Equal Opportunity posters.

[Gmac]

(03-17-2016 12:36 AM)Fisto Wrote:  

As always I'm shocked at some of the things you faggots say when something horrible happens to another human being.

You motherfuckers try to act so hard "I have no sympathy, guys a dumbass". blah blah blah.

That kid's life is fucking OVER.

Every last one of you have done something much worse, been caught, and nothing happened.

"Oh well he should have respected the rules of the country".

Are you dumbfucks really taking the word of the Korean gov't as the Gospel?

Idiots.

edit - This is you guys' shitty way of virtue signaling

I look at it as the guy is a Darwin award candidate. Stupid is as stupid does. Unless he "stumbled" into North Korea by mistake he should have known something like this would happen.

Any American with any sense at all knows you don't travel to North Korea. How about a flamboyant gay man trying to sneak into Iran or Saudi Arabia. You just don't do it.

He fucked up - but I doubt they will harm him. Zero sympathy from me.

[El Chinito loco]

It's not like noone knows what a shithole North Korea is. It's been this way and worse for over 60 years now. News about what a shithole it is has been splayed all across the media for decades.

If you see a nest of vipers and knowingly jump into it for no good reason except to prove something who is to blame? The vipers or the idiot who jumped in to begin with?

This kid also turned himself into a significant bargaining chip for one of the biggest enemies of the U.S.

North Korea is not Thailand, the Philippines, or any other place in asia. It is not a country you go to fuck around in period.

Noone deserves to get stoned to death for adultery, beheaded over drugs, or sentenced to hard labor for 15 years for trivial offenses. However, something must be said about putting yourself in a position where things like this can happen in countries where normal sensible rule of law does not occur.

Here's why this kid was a dumbass, i'll highlight the worst atrocities committed by North Korea in the past 60 years and you can all decide whether or not it was a good idea to visit in the first place.

It takes all of 5 minutes to google and figure out that the Korean war never really ended.

Quote:

1950s

16 February 1958: North Korean agents hijack a South Korean airliner to Pyongyang en route from Busan to Seoul; 1 American pilot, 1 American passenger, 2 West German passengers, and 24 other passengers were released in early March, but 8 other passengers remained in the North.[7]

1960s
April 27, 1965: Two North Korean MiG-17s attack a United States EC-121 Warning Star reconnaissance plane above the Sea of Japan, 80 km (50 mi) from the North Korean shore. The aircraft was damaged, but managed to land at Yokota Air Base, Japan.[9][10]

October 1966–October 1969: The Korean DMZ Conflict, a series of skirmishes along the DMZ, results in 43 American, 299 South Korean and 397 North Korean soldiers killed.[11]

January 19, 1967: the ROKS Dangpo (PCEC-56) (formerly the USS Marfa (PCE-842)), is sunk by North Korean coastal artillery north of the NLL,[12] 39 sailors of the crew of 79 are killed.

January 17, 1968: In an incident known as the Blue House Raid, a 31-man detachment from the Korean People's Army secretly crosses the DMZ on a mission to kill South Korean President Park Chung-hee on January 21, nearly succeeding. The incursion was discovered after South Korean civilians confronted the North Koreans and informed the authorities. After entering Seoul disguised as South Korean soldiers, the North Koreans attempt to enter the Blue House (the official residence of the President of South Korea). The North Koreans are confronted by South Korean police and a firefight ensued. The North Koreans fled Seoul and individually attempted to cross the DMZ back to North Korea. Of the original group of 31 North Koreans, 28 were killed, one was captured, and two are unaccounted for. Additionally, 26 South Koreans were killed and 66 were wounded, the majority of whom were soldiers and police officers. Three American soldiers were also killed and three were wounded.[13][14]

January 23, 1968: The United States Naval ship the USS Pueblo is boarded and captured, along with its crew, by North Korean forces in the Sea of Japan. The entire crew of 83 is captured, with the exception of one sailor killed in the initial attack on the vessel, and the vessel was taken to a North Korean port. All the captives were released on December 23 of the same year via the Bridge of No Return at the DMZ. The USS Pueblo is still in North Korean possession and is docked in Pyongyang and is on display as a museum ship.[15]

October 30, 1968: From October 30 to November 2, 120 to 130 North Korean commandos land on the northeast shore of South Korea, allegedly to establish a base in order to wage a guerrilla war against the South Korean government. A total of 110 to 113 were killed, seven were captured, and 13 escaped. Around 20 South Korean civilians, law enforcement officers, and soldiers were killed.[10][17]

March 1969: Six North Korean commandos kill a South Korean police officer near Jumunjin, Gangwon-do. Seven American soldiers are killed in a North Korean attack along the DMZ.[18]

April 15, 1969: An EC-121, US reconnaissance plane is shot down 90 miles (140 km) east of the North Korean coast, leaving 31 dead.[19]
November 1969: Four US soldiers are killed by North Koreans in the Demilitarized Zone.

December 11, 1969: North Korean agent Cho Ch'ang-hǔi hijacked a Korean Air Lines YS-11 flying from Gangneung Airbase in Gangneung, Gangwon-do to Gimpo International Airport in Seoul. It was carrying four crewmembers and 46 passengers (excluding Cho); 39 of the passengers were returned two months later, but the crew and seven passengers remained in North Korea. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair on landing.

1970s

April 1970: At Kumchon, Gyeonggi-do, a clash leaves three North Korean infiltrators dead and five South Korean soldiers wounded.[20]

June 1970: The North Korean navy seizes a broadcast vessel from the South near the Northern Limit Line. 20 crew are captured.

February 1974: Two South Korean fishing vessels are sunk and 30 crew detained by the North.

1974: The first North Korean infiltration tunnel into ROK is discovered. Three following tunnels were found in 1975, 1978, 1990.[8] The joint ROK-U.S. investigation team trip a North Korean booby-trap, killing one American and wounding 6 others.

March 1975: The second North Korean infiltration tunnel is discovered.

June 1976: An incursion south of the DMZ in Gangwon-do leaves three dead from the North and six from the South.

August 18, 1976: The Axe murder incident— an attempt to trim a tree in the Demilitarized Zone near Panmunjom— ends with two US soldiers dead and injuries to another four U.S. soldiers and five South Korean soldiers.

July 14, 1977: An American CH-47 Chinook helicopter is shot down after straying into the north over the DMZ. Three airmen are killed and one is briefly held prisoner (this was the sixth such incident since the armistice was signed).[21]

October 1978: The third North Korean infiltration tunnel is discovered.

October 1979: Three North Korean agents attempting to infiltrate the eastern sector of the DMZ are intercepted, killing one of the agents.

December 6, 1979: US patrol in the DMZ accidentally crosses the MDL into a North Korean minefield in heavy fog. One US soldier is killed and four are injured. the body is recovered from the North Koreans five days later. [22]

1980s

March 1980: Three North Koreans are killed while trying to cross the Han River estuary into the South.

May 1980: North Koreans engage OP Ouillette on DMZ in firefight. One North Korean WIA.

March 1981: Three North Koreans try to enter the South in Geumhwa-eup, Cheorwon, Gangwon-do; one is killed.

July 1981: Three North Koreans are killed trying to cross the upper Imjin River to the South.

May 1982: Two North Korean infiltrators are spotted on the east coast, with one being killed.

November 1987: American soldier and two North Korean soldiers die, and one American soldier is wounded during the firefight that erupted when a North Korean security detail confronted a sniper detail across the MDL into the southern-controlled sector of the Joint Security Area.

November 1987: One South Korean killed on DMZ central sector by North Korean sniper fire.

Dec. 9, 1983: Guard Post Ouillette. 10 N.K. ambushed outside Ouillette. 4 known dead.

1990s

March 1990: The fourth North Korean infiltration tunnel is discovered, in what may be a total of 17 tunnels in all.

May 1992: Three Northern soldiers in South Korean uniforms are killed at Cheorwon, Gangwon-do; three South Korean soldiers are wounded.

December 17, 1994: A US Army OH-58A+ Kiowa helicopter crosses 10 km into North Korean territory and is shot down. Of the crew of two, one dies and the other is held for 13 days.[22][23]

May 1995: North Korean forces fire on a South Korean fishing boat, killing three.

October 1995: Two armed North Koreans are discovered at the Imjin River; one is killed.

April 1996: Several hundred armed North Korean troops enter the Demilitarized Zone at the Joint Security Area and elsewhere on three occasions, in violation of the Korean armistice agreement.

May 1996: Seven Northern soldiers cross the Demilitarized Zone, but withdraw after warning shots are fired.

May & June 1996: North Korean vessels twice cross the Northern Limit Line and have a several-hour standoff with the South Korean navy.

April 1997: Five North Korean soldiers cross the Demilitarized Zone in Cheolwon, Gangwon-do, and fire on South Korean positions.

June 1997: Three North Korean vessels cross the Northern Limit Line and attack South Korean vessels two miles (3 km) south of the line. On land, fourteen North Korean soldiers cross 70 m south of the center of the DMZ, leading to a 23-minute exchange of fire.[24]

July 1998: A dead North Korean frogman was found with paraphernalia on a beach south of the DMZ.

June 1999: The First Battle of Yeonpyeong, a series of clashes between North and South Korean vessels, takes place in the Yellow Sea near the Northern Limit Line.

2000s

June 29, 2002: The second battle of Yeonpyeong leads to the deaths of six South Korean sailors and the sinking of a South Korean vessel. The number of North Koreans killed is unknown.

November 16, 2002: South Korean forces fire warning shots on a Northern boat crossing the Northern Limit Line. The boat withdraws. The similar incident is repeated on November 20.

February 19, 2003: A North Korean fighter plane crosses seven miles (11 km) south of the Northern Limit Line, and returns north after being intercepted by six South Korean planes.

March 2, 2003: Four North Korean fighter jets intercept a US reconnaissance plane over the Sea of Japan.

July 17, 2003: North and South Korean forces exchange fire at the DMZ around 6 AM. The South Korean army reports four rounds fired from the North and seventeen from the South. No injuries are reported.[25]

November 1, 2004: North Korean vessels, claiming to be in pursuit of illegal fishing craft, cross the Northern Limit Line and are fired upon by the South. The vessels withdraw 3 hours later.

May 26, 2006: Two North Korean soldiers enter the DMZ and cross into South Korea. They return after South Korean soldiers fire warning shots.

July 30, 2006: Several rounds are exchanged near a South Korean post in Yanggu, Gangwon.

October 7, 2006: South Korean soldiers fire warning shots after five North Korean soldiers cross briefly onto their side of the border.

November 10, 2009: Naval vessels from the two Koreas exchanged fire in the area of the NLL, reportedly causing serious damage to a North Korean patrol ship.[27][28] For more details of this incident, see Battle of Daecheong.

2010s

January 27, 2010: North Korea fires artillery shells into the water near Baengnyeong Island and South Korean vessels return fire.[29][30] Three days later, North Korea continued to fire artillery towards the area.[31]

March 26, 2010: A South Korean naval vessel, the ROKS Cheonan, was allegedly sunk by a North Korean torpedo near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. A rescue operation recovered 58 survivors but 46 sailors were killed. On May 20, 2010, a South Korean led international investigation group concluded that the sinking of the warship was in fact the result of a North Korean torpedo attack.[32][33] North Korea denied involvement.[34] The United Nations Security Council made a Presidential Statement condemning the attack but without identifying the attacker.[35]

October 29, 2010: Two shots are fired from North Korea toward a South Korean post near Hwacheon and South Korean troops fire three shots in return.[36]

November 23, 2010: North Korea fired artillery at South Korea's Greater Yeonpyeong island in the Yellow Sea and South Korea returned fire. Two South Korean marines and two South Korean civilians were killed, six were seriously wounded, and ten were treated for minor injuries. About seventy South Korean houses were destroyed.[37][38][39] North Korean casualties were unknown, but Lee Hong-gi, the Director of Operations of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), claimed that as a result of the South Korean retaliation "there may be a considerable number of North Korean casualties".[40]

March 24, 2014: A North Korean drone is found crashed near Paju. The onboard cameras contain pictures of the Blue House and military installations near the DMZ. Another North Korean drone crashes on Baengnyeongdo on March 31.[45][46]

October 10, 2014: North Korean forces fire anti-aircraft rounds at propaganda balloons launched from Paju. South Korean military return fire after a warning.[47]

October 19, 2014: A group of North Korean soldiers approach the South Korean border and South Korean soldiers fire warning shots. The North Korean soldiers return fire before retreating. No injuries or property damage result.[48]

August 4, 2015: Two South Korean soldiers were wounded after stepping on landmines that had allegedly been laid on the southern side of the DMZ by North Korean forces next to a ROK guard post.[50] Kim Jin Moon of the South Korean-based Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, suggested that the incident was planned by members of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance to prove their loyalty to Kim Jong-un.[51]

August 9, 2015: Two South Korean soldiers are wounded after stepping on landmines that had allegedly been laid on the southern side of the DMZ by North Korean forces next to a ROK guard post.[52]

January 3, 2016: South Korean soldiers fired warning shots at a suspected North Korean drone near the DMZ[57]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bo...orth_Korea


On top of that there are numerous incidents not listed such as the remote detonation of a bomb that killed most of the south Korean presidential cabinet in the 80's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangoon_bombing

Also numerous kidnapping of movie stars in South Korea and Japan to staff a brothel and other insane incidents.


Do these sound like reasonable people who will give you a pass if you go and mess around with their statues and flags??

[frenchcorporation]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Am...orth_Korea

according to the above link, 13 americans have been detained by north korea. 8 out of those 13 did less than 6 months (180 days). The longest was about 2 years.

So its unlikely he'll serve the full 15 years