Unfortunately, North Korea is the one with nuclear arsenals and not South Korea. It sucks that those reporters got caught but looks like evidence is pointing towards the fact that they did cross the boundary. Nobody expected North Korea to give fair treatments and I hope we can negotiate their release without implicating resolution to the bigger problem. I hate the notion of prisoners being used as bargaining chips.
itll be interesting to watch how washington will react. theyve alreay said theyre tired of giving into nk demands and theyre are going to take a firmer approach. this incident couldnt have happened at a worse time.
some guy on msnbc from the huffington post was saying that nothing would happen till after their legal process, now is the crucial time before they are shipped off. he was saying they had to wait till the legal process to finish.
Black people used to have to sit in the back of the bus. Women in muslim countries get lashed for talking to men. That is a bad argument. Can they be given a fair trail in N Korea? I doubt it so saying that they deserve what they got is unfair.
Even if you think it is unfair, how much American blood or treasure are you willing to spill to get them free?
A. They were not shooting a political film. The were shooting a humanitarian one for a good cause - one that Both the chinese and nk gov'ts could get behind - or at least should. B. They didn't break the law that they were sentenced to. They clearly are not spies. The trial was clearly a sham. C. You can go to N. India and have a giant beef steak. It probably would taste like crap. But I bet you could find someone. There are a lot of Muslims living in N India who eat beef. D. What law were they challenging?
1. The N. Korean people don't choose crap....it gets chosen for them. 2. I'm a lawyer by profession, but I haven't turned in my human being card yet. Laws are meant to be our servants for our benefit...not the other way around. When something is unjust, lawyers need to be among the very first to say so.
LIke someone said, where is the evidence that they crossed the border? Who knows the N. Korea soliders could have grabbed the ladies and say they crossed the border? It's really important for those two people who were with the ladies to speak up but I'm sure they're too scared to do so. I pray and hope they'll be released soon.
North Korea has a pretty significant record of aggressively reaching across its borders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_involving_North_Korea They also have a history of kidnaping foreign nationals outside the borders of the DPRK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductions_of_Japanese There is a consistent pattern of behavior with North Korea that lends credibility to the idea that the DPRK border guards might have crossed the borders to take these women.
Wow, I can't believe anybody would defend the DPRK's position here - An outlaw regime with ZERO credibility and a history of going out of their way to kidnap people on foreign territory. Hell, they even pull people into North Korea out of the UN truce building at the DMZ: [rquoter]This is the door to North Korea. It is unlocked during the day, but at night ROK soldiers lock it. Our guide told us that one time when a soldier was locking it a N. Korean opened the door and pulled him into N. Korea. From that point on one ROK soldier would stand with his left hand on the wall and his right on the pistol of the soldier locking the door in front of him. This, the guide said, was why the wall was white; from the soldiers placing their hands there each night. I'm not sure if he was making this up or not... sorta feel like he was... cause why do the S. Koreans get to lock the doors? [/rquoter]
Comon, don't you think your being a lil too harsh. Give the guy a break Kim Jong-Il makes sacrifices for North Korea SEOUL : North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has sacrificed holidays and time with his family to devote himself to his country, according to the communist state's media. Official radio monitored by Seoul's Yonhap news agency said Kim spent almost two months on his trademark "field guidance" tours from late December to mid-February. "I have stayed away from home for two months and lived in a train to give field guidance to various economic sectors in a forced march," it quoted Kim himself as saying on his 67th birthday on February 16. "I cannot deny having had a desire to take holidays and rest with my family at home, but I couldn't do it because I was so concerned about people's lives." Kim is widely believed to have suffered a stroke last August. The once-portly leader appears gaunt and much older and thinner in recent photos. Nevertheless, he has more than tripled his public appearances this year, according to state media reports. In April the ruling communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said Kim felt fatigue because of his tough schedule. "A man is not made of iron and must take care of his own body. But I have no time to do so," the leader was quoted as saying during a field trip. "Why wouldn't I be tired and need more sleep? Even though I'm tired, I endure it." The newspaper depicted him as tough but tender in a report two days after the North's April 5 rocket launch. Kim was "choked with sobs" at the need to use the money on the launch rather than to improve people's livelihoods, it said. "Our people will still understand," it quoted him as saying. The North suffered famine in the 1990s which killed hundreds of thousands and still relies on foreign aid to alleviate severe food shortages. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/434581/1/.html
I don't defend DPRK but I am a realist. I don't want to spill American blood and treasure for their release. That's it.
You didn't read my entire post. I don't think the law is fair, but the two women chose to break it. It is their responsibility. Now they've put themselves and their country in a bad position. But they chose to take that risk. I would be furious with them if I were American. They are the equivalent of out of control teenager and America is the parent. These people misbehaved and, just like a parent, America should try to snatch them away from N Korea but still punish them. They are wrong. The outcome of the trial was disproportionate. I haven't stated otherwise.
A) That is your and my opinion. It is not the opinion of the governing body of the jurisdiction which these two reporters allegedly entered. B) That is upto the judge in North Korea - and that is moreso the case if they entered North Korea voluntarily with knowledge of what could happen. You are not allowed to enter N Korea as a foreignor without someone escorting you around. If you try to do so, there will be suspicion that you're a spy. C) Nit picking. You know what I meant. D) I'm not familiar with N Korean law, but it seems like they were challenging several laws just based on the generic articles I've read. I don't think any of us can know this unless we were at the trial really. We are all working on assumptions.
1) I know. I said the people in charge. The people have very few rights in North Korea unfortunately, I'm fully aware of that. I'm not sure if you're hinting that the general public should have a say in these people's trial? 2) I still have my human being card as well. I care about these people. I am simply stating that they were irresponsible in their decisions and were aware of the potential outcome. It is not a shock or a surprise.They should just not have gone. I don't think this sentence is fair, but if the blame is to be placed anywhere, it's on those who made the decision to go. My opinion of common law is no different than yours. The laws should serve us. However, this is not our law. It doesn't govern us. It governs N Korea. Our hope is that these people are given a fair trial. I agree with that. But I cimply can not agree that these two are not criminals and absolving them of their crimes (for me) is not a prerequisite to feeling compassion towards them.
