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North Korea sentences U.S Student to 15 years hard labor

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by VanityHalfBlack, Mar 16, 2016.

  1. VanityHalfBlack

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    Better get to work bro.... Here's an advice: Don't go to North Korea?



    http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/16/asia/north-korea-warmbier-sentenced/index.html

     
  2. sugrlndkid

    sugrlndkid Member

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    You act dumb abroad...and act like you are entitled to the American way of life on foreign soil...You justifiably get treated accordingly.

    I have zero sympathy for this idiot. Prepare to sit out your 20's in a North Korean prison.
     
  3. VanityHalfBlack

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    ^Amen. He'll become a man when he gets back though. Perspective is a motherfukker!!
     
  4. sugrlndkid

    sugrlndkid Member

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    I read this story last night... The kid apparently took the sign for a person at a church that promised to give him $10,000 for a used car. If he was detained, he would get 200K...Think this was on cbsnews or so...Really have zero sympathy for this kid. Expect him to serve at least 2-3 years of his 15 year sentence...
     
  5. Haymitch

    Haymitch Custom Title
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    Sucks. Hope he gets out of there soon.
     
  6. mtbrays

    mtbrays Contributing Member
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    This is North Korea we're talking about here. Everybody saying that he got what he deserves needs to take any news about this story with a massive grain of salt. Kidnapping an American citizen to serve as a bargaining chip is not out of the realm of possibility for the North Korean government.

    The only cards they have are nuclear weapons and erratic behavior that guarantees Western concessions after visits from dignitaries (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, etc. who have visited to guarantee the release of American prisoners). Given that their economy is constantly on the edge of collapse and reports of continued upheaval and executions in the military, it wouldn't be surprising if the regime kidnapped this kid and coerced a "confession" out of him in the hopes of guaranteeing more American aid or easing of sanctions.

    sugrlndkid is really placing a lot of faith in the North Korean media and judicial system here when he condemns this kid.
     
  7. Anticope

    Anticope Member

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    That's the story he supposedly confessed to North Korean officials. Who knows what actually happened, the story was coerced I'm sure, but he probably did something he knew he shouldn't be doing and got caught. My advice would be to obey the laws when traveling to a reclusive dictatorship on vacation.

    In the end, he'll probably be released with some US diplomatic trip to NK but who knows how long that'll take considering how extra disobedient the North Korean government has been lately.
     
  8. HR Dept

    HR Dept Contributing Member

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    I wouldn't be surprised if the kid didn't take the banner at all.

    Not by any means am I saying he got what he deserved... But this is exactly why you DON'T go to North Korea.
     
  9. Kim

    Kim Contributing Member

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    I'm also open to the possibility of the N. Korean government is just screwing him over, as well as the possibility that he did something foolish. Why even risk it? There are so many other places that are cool and safe to travel to.
     
  10. BleedRocketsRed

    BleedRocketsRed Contributing Member

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    I really think a lot of people are believing the NK media and condemning this kid because he looks like a douchey frat boy who would do something this stupid. It's probably a bad thing to say but look at him.
     
  11. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    Being a Minority in this country . . . . .I can says I take nothing any authority organization says at face value
    Korea or Local PDs . . they are about saving face for themselves first and foremost
    and if they have to lie on a 'suspect' or Coerce them . . .well that is what they gonna do

    Rocket River
     
  12. REEKO_HTOWN

    REEKO_HTOWN I'm Rich Biiiiaaatch!

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    Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
     
  13. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    Meh, at this point we don't know anything. The confession and trial is obviously scripted

    maybe he was actually a spy who was caught or maybe he didn't do anything was abducted by North Korea to be a political bargaining chip.

    The whole poster story does not seem believable to me and neither does the 15 year sentence.
     
  14. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    Probably stealing the banner really did happen. If North Korea was going to make up a charge, stealing a banner is too lame to be what they settle on. The supposed reward from the church (with the convenient clause about not paying if the church was mentioned), the encouragement of the secret society at the university -- all that sounds like total bs. Only a totalitarian dictatorship could float a lie so thin and not worry about not being believed. But they had to dress it up a little so that 15 years hard labor for taking a souvenir doesn't sound completely crazy.

    If the kid made a mistake, it was boarding a plane bound for North Korea. What noble cause the mission has and whatever assurances they might be given for safe passage, American travelers to North Korea put their country's interests at stake by exposing themselves to the DPRK government. The kid may have made himself a target by taking a banner, but he was arrested because he's useful as an American citizen. If DPRK needs a chip, they could have pulled anyone out of these Young Pioneers and charged him with something completely fake, and it'd be just the same. I think yall are ridiculous to think this kid was a victim of his own stupidity. Obeying the law in North Korea will not protect you.
     
  15. Exiled

    Exiled Member

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    the only person who can rescue him in such situation is this guy


    [​IMG]
     
  16. pirc1

    pirc1 Contributing Member

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    Yup. Go to North Korea and act like a fool is just asking for it.
     
  17. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    I think the odds of normal law abiding foreign tourists going to NK being arbitrarily detained and thrown into prison is quite low.

    I know quite a few people that have been to the country on similar tours and it's just standard tour where you are not allowed to go anywhere without a guide, and you see what they want you to see. None of the have had any trouble. In fact some told me it was rather disappointing and uneventful because it's just a huge propaganda show for tourists. I think there's more than handful of foreign tourists and foreign media that go in and out of NK without any problems everyday.

    But then again they are Canadians/Chinese and not Americans, so I don't know if that makes a difference.

    I think it's common sense that if you choose to go to NK you don't do anything that will remotely annoy them. This kid is either the most moronic person on Earth or we are not hearing the correct story.
     
  18. VanityHalfBlack

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    That Dennis rodman Doc is so bizarre.As for this kid? He's going to come back swoll as fukk, and get chicks. Looks like a good deal to me. He's not really a kid. He's 21, an adult.
     
  19. pirc1

    pirc1 Contributing Member

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    That just means he is a even bigger moron than I thought.
     
  20. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    I think he took that banner but yeah, the 200k for his family if he got detained is ridiculous as a story and obviously untrue. It makes no sense though why he would say that. Any adult who offers money to your family in case you are detained in North Korea is a pretty horrible person for encouraging to do something so risky.

    I don't think he gets held longer than a year - tops. Definitely is a bargaining chip.

    But you have to be pretty stupid to take a banner and think you are going to get out of the country with no one searching your bags and finding it.
     

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