North Korea Finds Two US Journalists Guilty of Unspecified "Grave Crime," Sentence: 12 Years Hard Labor
Horrible news for the families of Current TV correspondents Euna Lee and Laura Ling: North Korea's highest court has ruled that the two journalists are "guilty of illegal entry," and will be sentenced to 12 years hard labor. The women were arrested in March while working on a story near the border between North Korea and China.
NKorea sentences 2 US journalists to 12 years jail (AP)
Reporters get 12-year terms in NKorea (CNN)
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mistake.
General moral-- when near dictatorships, stay well on the safer side of the border.
Petty PoS, playing games with people's lives.
For tens of thousands of years these petty fucks have run the world; now they fear the internet, our ability to talk, to share, to organize. We must make our move now, before they close this window of opportunity.
We don't want people looking back and saying, that was the moment when we had a chance to change the status quo.
If anyone has read the excellent book "The Aquariums of Pyongyang", you'll know that soft labour camps are survivable, but often not, while hard labour camps are a death sentence.
I've been arguing for a good 10 years that we should be doing anything we can to piss N. Korea off so we can finish that ridiculous war once and for all. Their shenanigans cannot be tolerated anymore.
But I also don't think we should have diplomatic relations with countries like Singapore who hang people for drug infractions. But at least Singapore has money and speaks English... What do we get out of NK?
All I can say is that's terrible.
In some countries, one can be put in jail without a formal charge, court or a lawyer present, on some general propositions like "terrorism".
Like in Guantanamo Bay, for example.
Or, kidnapping people from the street, putting them in unmarked planes and interrogating them with waterboarding. Like CIA did in several European countries last year...
Yeah, funny thing about dictatorships.
One should always stay clear of their borders.
Oh, do tell "vordan". I suppose the evil Americans have shot housewives in the back while they were looking at the sunrise on the sea too.
Actually, you could probably generalize-- pick a country (or countries) where you really like the laws. Stay there. Avoids the whole problem.
@#6
That principle works, if you can get in legally.
If you can't, what then?
These people aren't willing to settle with avoiding the problem, they're brave enough to do their part in fixing it. You can't fix a dictatorship overnight, unless they have oil.
I've been following this story for some time now and it is very probable that they never entered into North Korea at all, given the terrain.
That has not kept North Korea from snatching people in the past (remember, some as far away as Japan) but China has kept pretty quiet about what would constitute an illlegal border crossing by North Korean guards.
Too bad North Korea isn't Iran. They at least have *some* ear for international protests, in the case of Roxana Saberi. North Korea doesn't give a damn about reputation; Euna Lee and Laura Ling could easily be there for the entire duration of the sentence.
Hope to be wrong, though.
Wow, Cicada, I bet they never knew they were risking anything. Pity you didn't tell them that before they left.
Okay, so they knew the risks, they took them, it didn't go so well...what's the fuss?
Y'know, huge sacrifices made for journalism being worth noticing.
These North Koreans are more messed up than we could have realized, very dangerous indeed.
I wonder if anyone told Robert Capa that it might be dangerous to snap some pics of Omaha beach on June 6th 70 years ago?
65* years ago
@JJasper-- Ever heard the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat"? It's a good one to live a long life by.
They didn't act up when Bush was president. Let's see if they run over Obama, i.e., step up or be Jimmy Carter. Embargo those SOB's.
I am apalled.
This is a horrible loss in journalism. As a combat correspondant for the USMC, I understand that for good journalism to be effective, you must make risks.
They made a risk, and payed gravely for it. Laura Ling was one of my heros in journalism. I will pray and hope for the best for her and Euna Lee.
My only hope is that the US will start a preemptive strike against N. Korea before all breaks loose and they bomb Japan, or worse. They need to go down, they cannot break our earnest attempt at higher knowledge.
Yeah, pretty much the exact same thing.
This one time I saw this guy in Sweden who was kind of hungry... JUST LIKE HOW PEOPLE ARE STARVING IN AFRICA!@!!!11!!! This other time I saw someone call a Jew a name... JUST LIKE HOW HITLER COMMITTED THE HOLOCAUST!!11!!!!
The scale of the human rights abuses and the mass death and torture going on in North Korea is on a scale that blows anything in recent memory out of the water. To trivialize it the way you have is horribly disrespectful. I bet those two girls would trade a nice long stay in Gitmo right now for the horrors that they are about to face and likely die from, as would the (according to some estimates) the hundreds of millions of other people in North Korean death camps. Lets not even bother counting the poor bastards in North Korea who are not in slave camp and still busy dying needless deaths as they work themselves to death on too little food.
That isn't to say snatching people off the street and treating them to a nice long stay in Gitmo is moral or right, but to put it on even the same scale is inane.
err, that should be hundreds of thousands, not millions. North Korea has been far to busy starving the population to death to break 20 million.
Why couldn't Bill O'Reilly been there instead (or others of his ilk)? We could have turned this into a dumping ground for the human equivalent of nuclear waste.
The two women are a couple of low-value poker chips; they will be used by N. Korea to wring some minor advantage out of the US. Or just to unsettle US diplomacy while other matters are being discussed.
@vordan You show how out of touch you are with reality by attempting to compare North Korea to the US.
I love how some of you armchair politicians (sitting in your beige cubicals with a fresh $7.00 cup of coffee) somehow feel as if you have earned the right to comment on whether or not these two women are getting what they deserve. So easy to be so jaded in your comfy chair, isn't it? Act cool, aloof, as if you have seen it all and none of this matters. Epic fail.
Drop the act, or at least admit that it is no crime that these two have more courage than you. If you are not outraged at what (for now) is the destruction of these journalists, then you're not paying attention.
If the DPRK had an ounce of common sense or an inkling of how to run an efficient country, they would simply send those journalists back home and bar them from further entry. Torturing them to death in a labor camp is the textbook definition of an antisocial disorder.
We're still technically at war with them, right? Why not go ahead and strong-arm the DPRK into submission? Screw Iraq and Afghanistan, and leave Iran alone. Let's fly a few sorties over Kim Jong-Il's house.
The reason that Bill O'Reilly was not there is because these two journalists are at the front of cutting-edge journalism.
O'Reilly is just a pundit, these two are gonzo-journalists in the best way.
See, that's the risk, and that is how journalism grows.
Props @SLICKLINES
No kidding...
If only they worked for a company with an influential Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Chairman well known in diplomatic circles, the North Koreans would have considered their targets more carefully....
Ugh, Pyongyang is completely batshit crazy -- and maybe it would make it worse if he did -- but I wish Al Gore would start raising a serious stink and demand that he and/or the Red Cross be allowed to see them.
Any innocent people incarcerated by a foreign government without charge or afforded the due process of law should be released immediately or charged and allowed access to defence lawyers.
Mind you, it shows the extent to which North Korea has "progressed" what with a nuclear program and warheads, a missile delivery system and now a complete disregard for any sense of justice or international law.
Parallels with Guantanamo Bay are unavoidable and if there was any reminder necessary for the immediate closure of the "Git-mo" installation, then this is it.
#21: Is it not imprudent to stereotype the anonymous? What do you know of their courage, or the details of their chairs?
Personally, I think Cicada is bringing up an important position here, but coming to the wrong conclusions, perhaps in acting as a devil's advocate. I agree that there were risks, that the journalists did take them knowingly, and that their situation now is a result of those risks. Unlike Cicada, however, this does not lead me to conclude that their imprisonment doesn't matter. It is a different sort of tragedy, but a tragedy nonetheless: it is not a tragedy of terrible misfortune coming upon the unsuspecting, but instead a tragedy highlighting the courage of the journalists and the risks they faced in order to do something important. The latter has an element of sacrifice that the former lacks.
I hope they make it out all right. Something tells me they'll be charged with espionage before their sentence is up.
Start a war if we have to. Get them out. This is what wars are for.
If they had been eighty people in an embassy, we'd have Nightline watch the day counter for years. We'd be invading.
Two or eighty, it's the same. We're supposed to take care of our citizens. Otherwise there's no point to having a military other than than taking over resources from weak countries to make some gelt.
I'm no hawk. I don't like war as an easy solution to a problem (I supported the Afghan war, opposed the Iraq war, FWIW). And I have no illusion that a war with North Korea would be easy. It would probably be long and bloody. But maybe it is needed. Maybe we are just putting off what will have to happen, sooner or later (if Kim's son is as batshit insane evil as his dad and granddad).
I am pretty sure that the US would take North Korea out in a heart beat... if it wasn’t for that little matter of a few hundred thousand dead South Koreans and Japanese. Any attack the US would make against North Korea would pretty much result in North Korea using its own form of MAD. It would launch all of its rockets armed with some very ugly chemical weapons at Japan, and send a few thousand shells over the border into South Korea.
Now, the rockets at Japan are probably mostly defensible. Between missile defense systems, shoddy North Korean workmanship, and just preemptively bombing the piss out of anything that looks like it might think about flying, the US could probably save Japan from all but a few ugly chemical weapon hits on their major cities.
South Korea is more of a problem. Even if you completely dismiss the North Korean army, there is still that little matter of Seoul being in artillery range of North Korea. Combine this with North Korea's love of chemical weapons, and even the most optimistic estimations make Seoul a place you would rather not be during such a conflict.
I personally feel that capping North Korea would probably be one of the more just and merry preemptive wars you could pick. Whatever civilian losses might exist for North Korea could be easily be brushed aside with a completely straight face by counting up all of the poor bastard civilians you would save from murder at the hands of their own leaders. For better or for worse though, North Korea has a pretty effective deterrent. The US really isn’t willing to watch Seoul get leveled or a few Japanese cities turn into chemical wastelands, even if they felt like pissing away a more American soldiers lives and money.
The US and its allies are basically stuck in a pissing match with a psychopath. It is only going to end when North Korea finally loses all vestiges of sanity and does something really stupid like attack the South, or when some military asshat in the North decides that he wants a fucking iPod, caps Kim and Kim Jr. in the back of the head, and surrenders the country for cash and prizes.
which way does the wind blow?
If they were North Koreans sneaking into the US, we would throw them into Gitmo with no trial for "indefinite detention", since they are obviously terrorists and are the worst of the worst and could not possibly be safely housed in any US jails or prisons.
Props @SLICKLINES?
Really? Maybe he/she has a cheaper cup of coffee and in a rougher part of town but still has the time/internet connection and the moral high ground to tell everybody where they went wrong. Brava!
It is a shame that this has happened, but really the reporters should have known not to get so close. If they didn't you should ask why. It is not like North Korea is known for stability in anything except their instability.
Like everyone else here I would like to see their safe return. Just remember risk goes with the job and if you push insane rules/countries they often push back.
This is like a small child doing something they're not supposed to for attention. We should NOT give them the desired attention.
Send in GI Joe or Megaforce!
Stories need to be told. Brave reporters will get better stories, but I'm disappointed Al Gore doesn't have a more robust risk assessment dept. at Current TV to advise their international operations. If these ladies were dumb enough to cross into Jong Illand, shame on them. If the N. Korean army crossed into China to snatch them, I'd hold the Chinese responsible. Do the Chinese turn a blind eye to N. Korean incursions? I wouldn't have gone within 100 miles of the border without a Chinese army escort.
A Peter Arnett limited edition jacket(lined with cash) would have been useful.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKLicFJspW6E
@ BIG ED DUNKEL "They didn't act up when Bush was president"?
Err, they developed and tested their own nuke during his watch, which weights a little more than putting two people who unlawfully crossed a order into prison.
@Cicada:
"Ever heard the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat"? It's a good one to live a long life by."
A long, boring, worthless life yeah. Have fun... But while you are very willingly embracing morally flawed phrases, others out there are trying to report what millions are forced to accept every day, the very same thing that you throw out as a justification for the arrests; Curiosity kills the cat. In other words, you don't deserve what you take for granted.
@Dhamby:
"I will pray and hope for the best for her and Euna Lee."
Won't help.
@Vorad
"In some countries, one can be put in jail without a formal charge, court or a lawyer present, on some general propositions like "terrorism".
Like in Guantanamo Bay, for example."
Comparing Democratic Western Societies to North-Korea is dishonest, and minimizing the suffering of people who really live this kind of stuff everyday.
Have you been in North-Korea? I doubt it. But believe me you're way better off wherever you are, even if it's certainly very very far from perfect (and allows (relatively) rare cases of crime against humanity). That gives you an impression of how bad NK must be does it?
I'm sorry but What.The.Fuck. are the U.S.A waiting for to play their world police role, like they did with Afghanistan and Iraq? North-Korea isn't dangerous and harmful enough or what? This regime needs to fall apart!
@ BIG ED DUNKEL "They didn't act up when Bush was president"?
Err, they developed and tested their own nuke during his watch, which weights a little more than putting two people who unlawfully crossed a order into prison.
Watch the BBC documentary:
Crossing the Line
Mindblowing to think there are caucasian Americans living everyday life in Pyongyang.
Also that the guys kids speak english with a heavy korean accent.
is it even an established fact that they entered North Korea?
China, America, Russia (now) and Japan do not want any of each other further fail economically at this time. That would be Bad. A mess in Korea would certainly splash and could precipate an economic chain reaction - which they fear far more than the loss of civilians in a wet firecracker war.
The two journalist would be forgotten in a month in more prosperous times. They are only important now to the game players because of the overall timing. North Korea was only important to the big boys as a tool to be used against each other.
It's always been apparent that North Korea had no future. Only the ordinary North Korean people thought otherwise. The only way out of this that I can see is suborning a group of NK generals at the same time with promises of riches after the collapse. It has to be a cabal and it has to spontaneously come from inside NK. A super-Stalinist panopticon like the one they live in can't be penetrated from the outside.
Since this can't be predicted the only useful thing I think of doing now is laying emergency plans in place to prevent a global recession from turning into full depression if South Korea and Japan suddenly become economic non-contributors while they clean up their countries.
I wonder who WILL get North Korea after the final war?
How would we know North Korea was a dictatorship if no journalists ever went there?
@TAKUAN,
It is by no means an established fact that they entered North Korea.
The saddest part to me is that I haven't heard Current make one single mention about any aspect of this story.
Apparently, Sarah Haskins whining about her vagina is much more important.
@32 Demidan I never claimed to have the moral high ground. Hell, I wouldn't know it if I stood on it. But just because I'm not Mozart doesn't mean I can't hear a sour note.
Look, all I said was it's easy to sit here and (however tacitly)say "They got what was coming to them." And I suggested that it was somewhat a superficial way to look at things. I stand by that.
I never said I was out to tell everyone where they went wrong, as you imply. Brava indeed! For putting words in people's mouths.
@GorillaSushi, I am not privy to any of the details, but as an outsider I imagine that the folks at Current might have communicated with the families of the imprisoned journalists, and they may have determined together that for Current to broadcast anything or for any Current execs to make public comment would not help the case at this time.
The Committee to Protect Journalists notes:
"To date, 14 journalists have been held by the United States for extended periods of time without adequate legal consideration in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo. One remains in custody. Reuters freelance photographer Ibrahim Jassam was detained by U.S. forces at his home just outside Baghdad on September 2, 2008. A November 30 Iraqi Central Criminal Court decision found that there was no evidence to hold Jassam, and an order that U.S. forces release him was rejected by U.S. military authorities...."
(A search for "Ibrahim Jassam" on the New York Times and CNN websites comes up with zero news reports.)
and
"Since 2003, at least 16 journalists have died and an undetermined number have been seriously injured by U.S. fire in Iraq. CPJ research indicates that the U.S. military has investigated less than a handful of these deaths, and has absolved troops of wrongdoing in all of them. The substantive results of these cases, such as the 2003 strike on Al-Jazeera's Baghdad bureau that killed correspondent Tareq Ayyoub, have not been made public."
http://cpj.org/2009/06/as-cairo-speech-nears-concerns-for-obama.php
Yet it's only front-page news when They do it, and hardly worth reporting when we do it (and more and worse).
Ever heard the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat"? It's a good one to live a long life by.
That's not life. That's a persistent vegetative state.
@FAILIX:
Rather or not my prayers will benefit these two journalists is not for you to judge.
@DEMIDAN
Yes, props.
Let me explain. I know of military combat correspondents, such as my self, who have died in the line of battle.
They put their neck out, in the front lines of battle, to bring the most current information.
In a similar situation, these two civilians had the courage to bring to light very important issues that need to be addressed. They realized that for them shed light on these issues, they would have to risk their careers and their lives.
Like #54 explains, this is just one of many situations in which journalists have died, disappeared, or been imprisoned.
In no way should these people be chastised for for performing their job to the best of their ability. In no way should they be criticized for risking themselves to bring YOU the story.
Start a war if we have to.
If it's appropriate for us to go to war with North Korea over two journalists, then it would be appropriate for every country that had a citizen in Gitmo to bomb something in the US, right? If you're so excited about starting a war, maybe you should go over and do some reconnaissance for the war effort. Or were you expecting other people to do the injury and death parts?
SLicklines,Maybe if you started out with "I have been a war correspondent for many years and you arm chair quarterbacks really piss me off": instead chastising us loudmouths for our safety and coffee things would have gotten off to a better start with less assumption. With out that explanation you took the moral high ground and it was yours to take.
@xeni thank you.
I would like to thank the bb posters here for telling me the info that the mainstr... well ok I pretty much just read the NYT online... uhm, for telling me that, indeed, it is most likely that the two journalists were in China, and were not actually in North Korea. Everything else I have seen, including the bb snippet, just say "near the border" which does not at all address any important questions. Which side of the border were they on? Did they know? Were they snatched in China? Why don't the Chinese go ballistic over border incursions to snatch people? Not that I understand the Chinese government, but they are so defensive about the US, you think they'd get pissy over the North Koreans, but maybe the North Koreans are too insubstantial for the Chinese to care.
I don't recall when North Korea ever signed a peace treaty with the US.
So of course it's an act of war.
But to respond with military force would be to play their game.
Not that I understand the Chinese government, but they are so defensive about the US, you think they'd get pissy over the North Koreans, but maybe the North Koreans are too insubstantial for the Chinese to care.
The Chinese government considers North Korea as it's protege because it's another nominally Communist government. They generally vote against sanctions when it comes up at the UN. If it weren't for China's support/threat, we might well have invaded on the threat of nuclear weapon development. War is somewhat unnecessary since North Korea can't feed itself and largely lives off food dole contributed as a peace offering by South Korea and Japan. Basically, feed us if you don't want us to nuke you.
@Dhamby:
Rather or not my prayers will benefit these two journalists is not for you to judge.
Right, sorry I forgot, It's taboo to criticize religious people and their superstitions.
@Antinous:
If it's appropriate for us to go to war with North Korea over two journalists, then it would be appropriate for every country that had a citizen in Gitmo to bomb something in the US, right?
No. If "we" went to war against NK it wouldn't be "over two journalists". There are already enough reasons to go to war against North Korea.
Doesn't China guard their border with North Korea? I wouldn't expect the Armistice Line on that side but surely they wouldn't want North Korean soldiers or American journalists to come and go as they please.
"The Chinese government considers North Korea as it's protege because it's another nominally Communist government."
The Chinese interest in North Korea is more practical than that. The Chinese government already has trouble feeding it's people, and it desperately needs to avoid any instability that would send millions of North Korean refugees flooding into China. The Chinese will prop up Kim Jong Il for exactly as long as it serves their interests.
@FAILIX
Look, I am not leaning towards that.
You're basically saying saying someone's condolences are moot.
Either way, this detracts from the conversation at hand, so let's leavce it at that.
@57 Demi. Why so stuck on the phrase "moral high ground"? I think it's quite interesting.
But, okay, I'll bite. If you are defending obvious trolling statements such as "What's the fuss?" over two human beings being sentenced to slow death, and you see my distancing myself as much as possible from such a sophomoric attitude as "taking the moral high ground." Then damn straight. I took the moral high ground.
And yeah, I have every right, because I (and just about everyone else on this thread) actually can see the horror and the implication of what this sort of thing means -- and it bothers me that as a society we simply blow it off. Sorry if you are irritated by my stance. Here on the moral high ground.
Someone posted "they didn't do this under Bush".
Actually, they made their first nuclear bomb under Bush. Unless you are implying that jailing 2 people is worse then becoming a nuclear power?
One could argue this was prompted by Bush proving that a non-nuclear country was not 'safe' from attack when he attacked Iraq.
@Xeni, that's a good point. Luckily I've never had to deal with anything near an "international incident" level. In fact, I'm guessing the good people at Current must be going through a very difficult time right now considering that, as Euna and Laura's employer, they share in the responsibility for their safety.
@SLICKLINES: "...I love how some of you armchair politicians (sitting in your beige cubicals with a fresh $7.00 cup of coffee) somehow feel as if you have earned the right to comment..."
Mr. Lines, would you like to abolish our freedom of speech?
Did you earn that right by traveling thousands of miles to a foreign shore and killing non-military people?
Our military doesn't earn us much money, but those guys in cubicles do. They buy your bullets. They have the right to express their thoughts, to be wrong or stupid, and so do you and I. Thank you.
Some secret force needs to go in there and take out the government, right now.
Release the Hotties!!
It's too bad they were taken prisoner, but they were the ones who put themselves in danger. Whether they were within China or within North Korea at the time they were captured, they must have been very close to the border. And, despite the recent moves to become a more open society, China is still very unfriendly to journalists. So it's not as though they were completely safe if they stayed on the Chinese side of the border.
North Korea's leadership knows the US can't afford yet another war now, and so they're free to provoke the US. Even in the best of circumstances, with no soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, a war with Korea would be a bloody affair full of casualties. North Korea would shell Seoul into rubble within a few days. They've had 50 years to install artillery aimed at Seoul, protected by massive bunkers. North Korea's army is on the order of 1 million soldiers, almost 5% of the country. They're not as well trained or well equipped as a modern US army, but they are probably much more willing to die for their cause.
The US could try using some kind of commando team to sneak in and rescue them, but considering how sensitive things are in Korea, it might just spark an all-out war. There are all kinds of signs that North Korea's leadership is looking for any excuse to start the war back up again, and it's hard to believe that the rest of the world's opinion about a war would carry much weight with them.
The US could try to put more pressure on North Korea in order to get them to release the journalists, but is there really much more that can be done? Hasn't the US been trying to do as much as possible for years?
If it comes to negotiating with North Korea to get them back, what should the US give up in exchange? Should NK be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program? Should the US agree not to interfere with NK's arms deals?
It's too bad for them, but it might be in the country's best interests to not go to crazy lengths to attempt to rescue them.
@ #71; Release the Hollywood Hotties! Kim Jong-il is infatuated with Hollywood, so why not let our celebs be the brave heroes and negotiate for the release of these two journalists?
the NK government are simple gangsters. These hostages can be purchased. If the American government is reluctant to pay public ransom, do it secretly through a third party. Under the circumstances the price will be unreasonably high but there will be a price.
@73 an interesting proposal. Jong-Il loves Hollywood? Might Clooney or Pitt best negotiate a release?
Bill Richardson handled a previous release, thus the interview with him is particularly interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6QbdPW5mno
(richardson starts at 1:40 for those who can't stand maddow)
Al Gore is the next most likely candidate.
@74: according to IMDB, Kim Jong-il's favorite movie actor is Sean Connery and his favorite actress is Elizabeth Taylor.
The same source says some of his favorite movies are The Godfather, First Blood, Amistad, Gone With the Wind, Friday the 13th and Freddy vs Jason.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453535/bio
Bg whp...lt th bmbs rt
Thy knw xctly wht thy wr dng snkng nt NK, nd f nt, thy r t stpd t b cnsdrd jrnlsts.
Bttm ln, gttng thm t wll cst th S nd wrld cmmnty tns f mllns f dllrs nd ls gvs NK brgnng chp n th ltst crss.
Stay classy, Robguy.
Rindan @36: You're forgetting about China. Considering that the DMZ is where it is right now because China beat McArthur back after he went too far north during the Korean war, that's a big mistake.
Even after all this, I doubt that China would tolerate a western attack of any magnitude against N. Korea.
They won't even fire a shot. They'll just sell off all our government debt and collapse the dollar out from under us.
If the US attacks a country many civilians will die. Who are we to kill these innocent people?
I hope that people will use this painful news as a reminder to treat people with more compassion so that we may rise above the bloodshed which results from "an eye for an eye."
Although I am not Christian, you may be so I will continue with this:
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
The citizens of all countries are equally as deserving of life. I vote "No" to any military action against NK.
how many North Koreans will die of starvation this year?
Probably this is the thorniest problem in international policy. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I am sorry for all the millions living under this monstrosity.
ahh little Kimmie, can't live with him, can't shoot him in the face.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/17/AR2009061703852.html?hpid=topnews
(O_o)^n
Insuring North Korean stuff and trusting them to not to deceive? Are they crazy or just stupid? And of course, the other people pays for it, as premiums go up. (Facepalm)
As someone previously commented, probably the journalists were not on N. Korean soil at all. Remember the USS Pueblo ship captured in international waters back in 1967 The Koreans said they were inside their waters, which was actually a lie. They dragged the ship inside the limits and then boarded the ship. Then navigated the ship into the harbor, captured the crew (one was killed - SN Hodges) and they remained in captivity for 11 months and were brutally tortured. It took a new president of the US to negotiate the release. Posted by NSG VET