Two Americans held in North Korea plead for help from US

[Lite Beer]

Two Americans held in North Korea plead for help from US

Two American tourists charged with "anti-state" crimes in North Korea have pleaded for the US government to help secure their release.

Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle told the AP news agency they expected to be tried soon and given long prison terms.

The two men said they were in good health and had been treated well but expected conditions to get worse.

They were detained separately in April but both were accused of "committing hostile acts" while in the country.

Mr Fowle, 56, entered North Korea on 29 April and was detained in early June as he was leaving the country

He is said to have left a bible in the toilet of a restaurant in the northern port city of Chongjin but his family have insisted that he was not on a mission for his church.

North Korean authorities say Mr Miller, 24, entered the country on 10 April with a tourist visa but tore it up at the airport and shouted that he wanted to seek asylum.

 

Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-28617917

 

[bbc]2014-08-02[/bbc]

[chooka]

isn't there also an American by the name of Kenneth Bae?

 

Aussie Christians are also in custody in Nth Korea after being caught with bibles 75 yr old John Short comes to mind and he may die in prison.

[Mosha]

Some people need saving from themselves.

[Scott]

Mr. Miller wanted asylum in North Korea?   It seems like has gotten it, sort of.  

[Payboy]

He is said to have left a bible in the toilet of a restaurant..

There are restaurants in NK? And they have toilets?

[Suradit69]

Time to call on America's top North Korea expert :

 

[Grindting]

Any more info about the asylum claim. Makes no sense

[arjunadawn]

As an American, and one frequently critical of my government's policies, I prefer they did more to protect and secure Americans abroad (quite frankly, even at home). But the fact remains, some Americans travel without regard to dangerous places or places where they cannot, for example, prostyletize, and somehow expect immunity or special status. Like North Korea or not, the dos and donts while there are mostly known. I refuse to believe ppl go there on tourist visa; not legitimately. Ppl go there under cover for status to peek inside the country, or evangelize against express laws; morally right or wrong. It becomes a point were the US to leverage total pressure that it'd only invite other Americans around the world to act foolishly too. We should aid and advise but Americans getting in trouble in a place like this serve to compromise our national security secondary to their own safety first.

[transam]

Mr. Miller wanted asylum in North Korea?   It seems like has gotten it, sort of.  

 

Hmmmm, a nutter eh............
 

[transam]

Time to call on America's top North Korea expert :

 

On piercings and tattoos, don't think the boss is going for it, well he listened to this guy about a hair style....... 

[oneday]

Why any American would go to NK given the aggressive anger of NK towards the US is way beyond me.  I wouldn't go to Iran either.

[Suradit69]

As an American, and one frequently critical of my government's policies, I prefer they did more to protect and secure Americans abroad (quite frankly, even at home). But the fact remains, some Americans travel without regard to dangerous places or places where they cannot, for example, prostyletize, and somehow expect immunity or special status. Like North Korea or not, the dos and donts while there are mostly known. I refuse to believe ppl go there on tourist visa; not legitimately. Ppl go there under cover for status to peek inside the country, or evangelize against express laws; morally right or wrong. It becomes a point were the US to leverage total pressure that it'd only invite other Americans around the world to act foolishly too. We should aid and advise but Americans getting in trouble in a place like this serve to compromise our national security secondary to their own safety first.

 

" ...the dos and donts while there are mostly known.  I refuse to believe ppl go there on tourist visa; not legitimately."

 

 

Hmm. This sounds eerily familiar. Can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure I've heard of foreigners knowing the laws but ignoring them and misusing tourist visas (among others) in another country recently. Give me a minute. I'm sure I'll remember where that is.

[metisdead]

A post using all caps has been removed, turn off your Caps Lock button when posting.

[Malthus101]

There was a documentary on North Korea that showed a Church with practicing Korean Christians in it.

 

No problem there.

[ggt]

Anyone naïve enough to go to a country like N. Korea and draw unnecessary attention to themselves...deserve some time to think about their foolishness...maybe they could write a book warning others not to venture into the lions den...if you do not want to get eaten... 

[Mosha]

When I was a lad, we took a different type of book to the toilet.

[Skeptic7]

sooooooo...why do these morons need to plead for the USA's help??? why don't they just pray to their god??? why don't they just ask their non-existent, invisible friend??? OHHHHHH...I know...because they NEVER get any results. it's because they KNOW...THEY KNOW...that they are up the creek without a paddle if they rely on their faith/superstition. same reason they go to a medical doctor when they or their family gets ill. if they truly believed the BS superstition they spewed, then they would not need to rely on modern medicine, nor the USA for (real) help when they are in real trouble. it's so easy to spew verbal diarrhea when not critically ill, nor in prison.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Why any American would go to NK given the aggressive anger of NK towards the US is way beyond me.  I wouldn't go to Iran either.

 

It's one helluva mystery for me as to why any American would want to try to seek or expect to get asylum in, of all places, North Korea!!!

 

But beyond that, other than if I was some Christian activist on a religious mission, I can't understand why any regular citizen from the U.S. would want to even visit North Korea on a voluntary basis.

[farang2002]

Who would want to visit a country run by dangerous political crackpots?  Maybe an idiot??

 

[simondan]

Why any American would go to NK given the aggressive anger of NK towards the US is way beyond me.  I wouldn't go to Iran either.

Why ANYONE would want to go to NK for a holiday is beyond me. Its like going for a holiday in the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea in 1977 (who would take holiday advice from the Dead Kennedys anyway?)!

This is a vicious, stupid thuggish regime and doesnt deserve one cent of tourist money or the mild legitimacy it can provide.

As for prosthelytising Christians and those who cant leave their Bibles behind when they go on holiday, really, they deserve what they get.

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[Benmart]

sooooooo...why do these morons need to plead for the USA's help??? why don't they just pray to their god??? why don't they just ask their non-existent, invisible friend??? OHHHHHH...I know...because they NEVER get any results. it's because they KNOW...THEY KNOW...that they are up the creek without a paddle if they rely on their faith/superstition. same reason they go to a medical doctor when they or their family gets ill. if they truly believed the BS superstition they spewed, then they would not need to rely on modern medicine, nor the USA for (real) help when they are in real trouble. it's so easy to spew verbal diarrhea when not critically ill, nor in prison.

I prefer not to criticize a persons belief or non-belief. It's a personal matter, best left to the individual.

In past times, non-believers or believers we're condemned to the flames or the sword. Thankfully, in most places, that is a thing of the past.

Hate, unfortunately, resides in the heart of both persuasions.

[Acharn]

Why any American would go to NK given the aggressive anger of NK towards the US is way beyond me.  I wouldn't go to Iran either.

 
It's one helluva mystery for me as to why any American would want to try to seek or expect to get asylum in, of all places, North Korea!!!
 
But beyond that, other than if I was some Christian activist on a religious mission, I can't understand why any regular citizen from the U.S. would want to even visit North Korea on a voluntary basis.

I agree with your opinions, but I am also puzzled about that "request for asylum." Believe it or not, there are Americans, some of whom call themselves "Libertarians" of "Conservatives" who insist that the U.S. is an oppressive dictatorship that wants to destroy Christianity and persecute freedom-loving individuals. They have taken control of the House of Representatives, although they are, in fact, a minority in the Republican Party. They are certain that the U.S. government lies to them about all things, so I guess some of them think that North Korea is actually a workers paradise and bastion of the free market, since that is the opposite of what the U.S. government tells us. I think these people are very much like the PDRC members who are sure that Suthep was sacrificing himself to bring about reform.

[F430murci]

There was a documentary on North Korea that showed a Church with practicing Korean Christians in it.
 
No problem there.

There was a NK documentary showing American's sitting out in the cold and snow drinking coffee made from melted snow or ice because that's all they could afford and one on Fat boy's golfing skills. No problems there either.

[JacChang]

Relax... That Kim Yum Goong's plan worked.

 

We are all right, why would anyone be so stupid to travel there and then now claim for help.

 

Remember, this is propaganda. He deliberately made this scene, to provoke the US and to taunt

 

For all we know, these "americans" could be hired to do some high paying job for the NK, once their jobs are done, Kim Joo Joo has no need for them anymore. He could either let them depart OR use it for some news.

 

It's his game of "burning the witch". He purposely wanted to make a scene and torture them as an insult to the US.

 

Remember, everyone has legs, they choose where to go, nobody forced them in the first place. No sympathy here.

[arjunadawn]

 

 

Why any American would go to NK given the aggressive anger of NK towards the US is way beyond me.  I wouldn't go to Iran either.

 
It's one helluva mystery for me as to why any American would want to try to seek or expect to get asylum in, of all places, North Korea!!!
 
But beyond that, other than if I was some Christian activist on a religious mission, I can't understand why any regular citizen from the U.S. would want to even visit North Korea on a voluntary basis.

 

I agree with your opinions, but I am also puzzled about that "request for asylum." Believe it or not, there are Americans, some of whom call themselves "Libertarians" of "Conservatives" who insist that the U.S. is an oppressive dictatorship that wants to destroy Christianity and persecute freedom-loving individuals. They have taken control of the House of Representatives, although they are, in fact, a minority in the Republican Party. They are certain that the U.S. government lies to them about all things, so I guess some of them think that North Korea is actually a workers paradise and bastion of the free market, since that is the opposite of what the U.S. government tells us. I think these people are very much like the PDRC members who are sure that Suthep was sacrificing himself to bring about reform.

 

I must respond to your vast swath of the US political spectrum being demonized by you as... paranoid. Your having created a false premise by impugning people who believe the US government lies and then proceed to make innuendo that they have absurdly wrong views about NK. You then add another generalization based on your fallacy of false analogy and non-sequitur by tying local Thai politics into a thread about captives in NK.

 

You are all over the place because you have disdain for others have tried to make connections that are not remotely contiguous; its a poorly veiled diatribe. How you have taken this thread and maligned political parties in the US, tied it into NK, and then PDRC is an exercise in dubious intellect. I am not republican, conservative, Christian, nor libertarian but I am one of those who see Christianity under attack broadly by the American government. The American government lies brazenly and constantly to the American people and the world. The bar has been lowered so much in fact we no longer hold people in contempt for lying; it is now processed as status quo. Your post is ignorant on numerous counts and only incidentally pays tribute to the thread on Captive Americans in NK to check the relevant box. Why don't you just start a thread on this subject?

[Norvid]

These people ask for it. They show the world how stupid they are. Cuba is not enough for them? Let them taste the "North Korea Concentration Camp" ( probably the right name for this country) fist hand.

[Harsh Jones]

Some people need saving from themselves.

 

Let nature deal with it

[kamahele]

Why do we even allow US citizens to travel to North Korea when we can't even take a vacation on the beach in Cuba which is just next door? I feel for these imprisoned Americans in N. Korea and believe the US government needs to help them, but are they stupid? 

[macka17]

WOW.

What got your knickers in a twist then.

Politicians are liars. Everywhere.

It's part of the job. they'd all be out of work in a month if they ever had to tell the truth..

 

Any religious idiot that goes Anywhere but a Christian country overseas. and start leaving his dreamers book behind.

purposely or not. 

Deserves all he\she gets.    Dumb as....

 

Evangelist (maybe) in their minds. Pure idiocy in everybody elses.

 

They know the rules. unless real stupid. and know the consequences. Severe in that country.

and being an American on top of. Is just icing on the cake for NK Authorities.

 

The word "example" comes to mind.

Never mind. as long as they leave him his bible.

He can peruse the pages daily for the next 20 yrs or so. while breaking the rocks with other hand.

[simondan]

 

 

Why any American would go to NK given the aggressive anger of NK towards the US is way beyond me.  I wouldn't go to Iran either.

 
It's one helluva mystery for me as to why any American would want to try to seek or expect to get asylum in, of all places, North Korea!!!
 
But beyond that, other than if I was some Christian activist on a religious mission, I can't understand why any regular citizen from the U.S. would want to even visit North Korea on a voluntary basis.
 

I agree with your opinions, but I am also puzzled about that "request for asylum." Believe it or not, there are Americans, some of whom call themselves "Libertarians" of "Conservatives" who insist that the U.S. is an oppressive dictatorship that wants to destroy Christianity and persecute freedom-loving individuals. They have taken control of the House of Representatives, although they are, in fact, a minority in the Republican Party. They are certain that the U.S. government lies to them about all things, so I guess some of them think that North Korea is actually a workers paradise and bastion of the free market, since that is the opposite of what the U.S. government tells us. I think these people are very much like the PDRC members who are sure that Suthep was sacrificing himself to bring about reform.
 

I must respond to your vast swath of the US political spectrum being demonized by you as... paranoid. Your having created a false premise by impugning people who believe the US government lies and then proceed to make innuendo that they have absurdly wrong views about NK. You then add another generalization based on your fallacy of false analogy and non-sequitur by tying local Thai politics into a thread about captives in NK.
 
You are all over the place because you have disdain for others have tried to make connections that are not remotely contiguous; its a poorly veiled diatribe. How you have taken this thread and maligned political parties in the US, tied it into NK, and then PDRC is an exercise in dubious intellect. I am not republican, conservative, Christian, nor libertarian but I am one of those who see Christianity under attack broadly by the American government. The American government lies brazenly and constantly to the American people and the world. The bar has been lowered so much in fact we no longer hold people in contempt for lying; it is now processed as status quo. Your post is ignorant on numerous counts and only incidentally pays tribute to the thread on Captive Americans in NK to check the relevant box. Why don't you just start a thread on this subject?

Funny - you just made the same deviation from topic you found the original poster guilty of. And your diatribe was more paranoid and with a complete absence of veiling!

Im not so scrupulous. The idea that Christianity is under attack by the US govt is laughably paranoid. Theyre not attacking Christianity, theyre just winding back the laws and decisions passed over the years that reflect Christian ideals but deny others their human rights (like homosexuals, non whites, non Christians, kids wanting an unbiased education etc).

Poor Christians! Its like being fed to the lions all over again!

Maybe they can find some friends in NK!

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