Don’t be fooled by North Korea’s Winter Olympics charm offensive

MAJ James Woods He took a poster...a paper poster off of the wall at the airport...A PROGOGANDA poster....not a CRIME PUNISHABLE BY DEATH. NOT EVEN A CRIME that should be PUNISHABLE by PRISON time and he got 15 years.... NO WAY in comparison of going to the Philippines and selling drugs. SERIOUSLY OH MY GOD...you have got to be kidding me?!?!? He did not steal MONEY, Jewelry, GOLD STATE secretes or anything pertinent...he was a stupid kid who wanted a souvenir and did a stupid thing and took a poster off of the wall. In any other country he would have received a slap on the hand, if that....in most countries, nothing would have happened to him...CNN stating she took the show is BOLOGNA. I looked up Japanese new papers, Australian news papers and a few other countries who didn't say anything like this. CNN is a JOKE. A FARCE... SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth LTC Jeff Shearer Capt Daniel Goodman

There was a story of a kid I'd read about in one of the Pacific or SE Asian countries, I forget which one, where, so the story went, if you'll recall, where the old British practice of caning for what is generally termed "hooliganism" in such countries was, possibly is, still allowed. I'm not certain if the caning was to be applied to the back, or the soles of the feet, or both, however, there was a quite large hue and outcry about it internationally, if you'll all recall, it was about a decade or two ago, give or take, I can't quite recall the exact date, I'll try to look it up. What the kid did in the Hermit Kingdom with his whole thing of taking the poster, at least to my mind, seemed, at that point while the while thing was going in with him, to be at least comparably equivalent. Now, obvioisly, to have tormented the kid to the extent he was clearly tormented about it over something so relatively inconsequential was clearly wrong on the part of the Hermit Kingdom, that's certainly, quite clearly, a given, no doubt of that, those idiots went way, way overboard with he kid, unquestionably I would only point out one difference, qualitatively, not that the difference in any way justifies what the Hermit Kingdom did, by any means. In the case of the kid who got caned, he'd apparently, at least from what I recall, scratched some cars with a key, I think, most likely in some childishly stupid, possibly drunken, teenage escapade. Clearly taking a propaganda poster is at least to most Western minds, he functional equivalent of such hooliganism, I, for my part, can certainly perceive that. There was also the case of that West German ki, if you'll also all recall, Mathis Rust, I believe, was his name, who personally brought down te head of the Soviet Air Force, if you'll all recall, with his little escapade of actually landing, where it was in fact filmed, a light plane in the middle of Red Square, during he annual May Day Soviet main military parade through Moscow, or something like that. As I recall, he was arrested and imprisoned in I think Lubyanka Prison, or some gulag, for quite some time, for just such an example of clearly pretty egregious hooliganism. If you'll all recall the case of the Bali Nine in Singapore, Australia really climbed all over Singapore because he two ringleaders, I'd read, along with several ofpthers, were pretty horribly gotten rid of after a decade in Kerobakan Prison, despite the pretty vociferous please of their families, and also the Australian government, the two were sent to Nusukambangan Island, the Alcatraz of Singapore, where what the Singaporeans did to all of them was, I'm afraid to say, pretty Savage, though they did something that was quite clearly criminal there, not mere hooliganism. I obvioisly am in no way arguing for what happened to the kid in the Hermit Kingdom, far from it, in fact, exactly the reverse, however, if you'll all recall, the family and crew of the USS Pueblo, I'd read, someone sent it into the app here a few days ago, were apparently bringing a lawsuit against the Hermit Kingdom for the torture the crew suffered there when the ship was captured, and is still on display as a war propaganda prize, during the Vietnam War back in 1968, or thereabout, maybe 1969 or so. However, here''s the fine point of it: In the case of the kid in the Hermit Kingdom, he, for whatever reason, went sightseeing in what is quite probably the single most dangerous place on Earth. Why? Haven't a clue, maybe his going with friends, perhaps, on what he deemed a sightseeing tour, convinced him somehow that it'd be safe, honestly, I dont know his motivations, I'd seen the apYouTuve videos of him being tried, my heart went out, as did everyone else watching other than those in that SE Asian madhouse, I'd hope. However, he apparently, for whatever reason, pulled the tail of a tiger with his taking the poster, was it a cardinal sin? Of course not. Did he deserve such harsh treatment for it? Then or after he suffered from it on being sent home? Likewise, of course not. However, I gather he, his friends, his family, the families of the friends, must've been quite clearly warmed about the place, maybe he'd think it cool to traipse around in that zoo, I dont know the motivations, I feel for him, o feel for the family, however, in taking the poster, henbasicalpy committed the one single really cardinal sin to those demented yo-yos, political disrespect, which, to them, is not mere hooliganism, it, to those idiots, trapped as they are under the thumb of demented little twerp, and before that under the father and grandfather who were equally evil, the worst possible thing he could possibly have done, at least to them. Was it? Of course not. However, in a total neo-Stalinist, neo-Maoist, neo-Fascist lunatic asylum like that place, that's how they perceived it. I've sent in here, in the past, the story of Sophie School and he White Rose in Germany, who were tried for treason by the Germans, under that insane screaming head judge of theirs, that manian Roland Freisler, the one who sentences the July 20th plotters against that he German Maniac in Operation Valjyrie, made into that film with Tom Cruise. To he Germans of the period, what Sophie School, her brother, and their friends did, warranted what Friesler sentenced them too. Did it? Of course not, they were all heroes and heroines, all of them, that's obvious. However, that story illustrates what happens when you turn a dictatorial madhouse like that into some sort of tourist resort, you pull a tiger's tail long enough, you're gonna get bit, as the saying goes. Was it right, as I'd said before? No, of course not. Did the kid deserve it in the least, what actually happened to him? Likewise, obvioisly not. I only recounted what I did here to make some comparisons, not to justify in any way such treatment of that kid, or anyone, also, to illustrate that, in the present era, he Hermit Kingdom is as dangerous now as Germnpany was in WW2, plus, they're a tiresome bore, and also incredibly stupid and pedantic in top of everything else. That that lunatic asylum was even allowed to send teams to an Olympics should never have been allowed...might such an attitude be unfair to their athletes? Yeah. Does that mean they should be allowed to attend,, despite that? No, at least to me. I recall when Pre. Carter banned US participation in the Moscow Olympics, one would've hoped the IOC running that whole show would've shown as much wisdom to bam the Hermit Kingdom to begin with...as I'd pointed out, that's exactly the kind of thing that happens when sports is made into an international event. Should that German maniac been allowed to host the 1932 Olympics in Germany? Clearly not, thankfuly, Jesse Owens made a complete fool of that monster. To me, here is no qualitative difference between the Hermit Kingdom, and virtually any other Fascist orCommunist dictatorship, all such countries should be banned from participating by the IOC, till they clean up their acts, and, most esp., in the present era, the Hermit Kingdom, that whole place should just be beamed into space, and forgotten about, like the nightmare it actually is, I hope that makes some level of sense, imfele for the kid, I feel for the family, truly, what happened to him was totally unfair, and, given such harshness, the last thngntenworld needs is to see their stupid ice skaters on international TV, with all the attendant political DRA!a, that was all I was trying to convey, I hope that makes sense, as I'd said, I'd be most eager for any thoughts, all tourism to that asylum should be permanently named, I ternationally, it is clearly the very last place on Earth one should even remotely visit. I'd say the same for China, since the Hermit Kingdom is quite clearly their neo-Stalinist, neo-Maoist lapdog, they only get away with it solely because Peking (not Beijing) allows it, China could stop them anytime it wants, China let's them get away with such garbage, solely because they're the Communist escape valve for China. China is expected to maintain a capitalist face, just as Deng Xiao Peng designed for it, the very last thing achina is, is capitalist, they merely give that impression, to further their Communist aims, nothing more, a pure facade, the only reason it's tolerated is thst manufacturing in China is so cheap now, and that Tiannenmen Square !adhouse is in a state of quasi a capitalist drive to !maturity, under total Communist hegemony. The Hermit Kingdom let's them maintain their Communist Revolution facade, by giving that little twerp monster there just enough leash to ne their barking, yelping, saber rattling little pet chiuauha, a monstrous onez to ne sure, but a pet, nonetheless, any notion of friction between those two "countries" is also a pure facade, the Hermit Kingdom is just a province of that place, it jas been ever since the Korean War, and any impression to the country is purely illusory. The Hermit Kingdom has been OO'd that it effectively lost the Korean War, that's why it continually raids South Kore@, that's why all that kabuki dance theatre at the DMZ is always going on, that's why the South Koreans positively loathe the Hermit Kingdom, and the Kermit Kingdom loathes South Korea right back. That whole thing as I've said on here many times, jas been a pot on slow boil for nearly 70 yrs now, small wonder it's finally starting to bpil over, you know? Once again, I hope that makes at least some sense, and conveys my thoughts, believe me, I entirely agree with everyone here, that lunatic asylum is a positive madhouse, no question, I'd be eager as I'd said for any thoughts, many thanks.

Sgt Kelli Mays - Agreed.

Sgt Kelli Mays - Yes he took a propaganda poster and yes that isn't a crime in most countries. But we're not talking about most countries, we're talking about North Korea and if you're an American, you don't do anything stupid to give them a reason to arrest you and use you as a political chip. So feel free to travel to N. Korea and tear down a poster. Feel free to travel to Iran or Saudi Arabia and refuse to cover your head in public. When you're arrested, don't blame the country and it's laws for your actions. It's a tragedy that he died for a stupid thing but being an American tourist who makes a stupid decision or arrogant or feign ignorance is not an excuse. We expect tourists to obey American laws and not feign ignorance and beg for mercy of the court. Yes we don't have laws with harsh penalties like N. Korea but if we did we would enforce them. If a tourist was caught with pot in a state where it's illegal, they be detained, jailed until court appearance, charged, fined, and deported. it's not the death penalty but to be deported over pot possession for personal smoking is a felony even though smoking pot in their home country is legal. So yeah crime and punishment isn't equal in every country and to use the Warmbiers as a political "in your face" tool in Korea is as bad as Democrats bringing DACA individuals to the SOTU address as a political "in your face" act.
Capt Daniel Goodman You're correct. There was an incident in the 90s when American tourist committed vandalism in Singapore and the punishment under their law was caning. Americans were furious but once again, American voluntary travels to another country and then broke one of their laws then wanted mercy out of American ignorance of their laws; especially since committing similar crime in the US isn't considered serious.
Hate a country all you want but don't make excuses for individuals that travel to a hostile country (the type of country where they'll arrest you for just saying something bad about their leaders) then commit a petty crime.