US Student sentenced to 15 years hard labour in North Korea

Jim Bob Scratcher

All for stealing a poster :eek:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/us-student-gets-15-years-in-north-korea-for-stealing-poster-1.2575149

PM me nudes

Idiot.

You don't do anything stupid in NK, especially as an American citizen

The Backwards Man

Rambo would get him out.

Instead they'll send some diplomat that the DPR can claim is there for peace talks in light of the NK's developing nuclear superiority.

Send in Rambo instead, ya loons. And get him to shoot him in the leg for being such an idiot.

Guy:Incognito

Otto Warm Beer ? Thats not a real person.:D

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Why in the name of God would you go to North Korea. Even if you're stupid enough to go you'd have to be a special kind of clown to give them any reason to lock you up. The sentence is obviously ridiculous but the fool put himself in harms way.

Ursus Horribilis

He has become a pawn for the North Koreans, pure and simple. That county is such a basket case they'd nearly arrest you for leaving the toilet seat up.

cowboyBuilder

Crazy, a labour camp in NK is absolute hell, he will die there, the US should launch a commando style operation to rescue one of it's citizens.

cowboyBuilder

Lots of victim blaming on here.

Buona Fortuna

If he'd been imprisoned for being a feckin stoopid amercan youth - no one could argue.

suicide_circus

1. If you're an American, don't go to North Korea where they think Americans are literally the devil.

2. If you're an American in North Korea, don't steal any ****ing posters.

3. God help the chap, he better hope for a quick death rather than living through 15 years of North Korean hard labour,

cowboyBuilder

Now girls, don't be wearing short skirts when you go out, you don't want any unwanted attention... :rolleyes:

Eugene Norman

Poor guy. Won't do wonders for their tourist industry though.

donkeyoaty0099

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

Why in the name of God would you go to North Korea. Even if you're stupid enough to go you'd have to be a special kind of clown to give them any reason to lock you up. The sentence is obviously ridiculous but the fool put himself in harms way.

Loads of people go. It's supposed to be really interesting to go through the facade of wealth and happiness. I'd quite like to go to the Arirang Games some time.

Potatoeman

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Now girls, don't be wearing short skirts when you go out, you don't want any unwanted attention... :rolleyes:

That would be true in Saudi Arabia. You should be aware of the culture you are a guest of.

Alf Stewart.

Fifteen years in hell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXXO9_3gb3o

Jim Bob Scratcher

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Rambo would get him out.

Instead they'll send some diplomat that the DPR can claim is there for peace talks in light of the NK's developing nuclear superiority.

Send in Rambo instead, ya loons. And get him to shoot him in the leg for being such an idiot.

The only hope he has now is Dennis Rodman

suicide_circus

gctest50 wrote: »

No, he's not worth saving - any cop on at all and he'd have professed his love for their great leader and tell them he wanted the poster for his bedroom wall

pretty sure they beat whatever confession they wanted out of him

B_Wayne

gctest50 wrote: »

No, he's not worth saving - any cop on at all and he'd have professed his love for their great leader and tell them he wanted the poster for his bedroom wall

However idiotic his decision was, wouldn't wish a NK labour camp on anyone and hope he gets out.

MarkAnthony

Victim? He's a criminal in their eyes.

TBH in AH I would have thought people would have thought this was a reasonable sentance.

12Phase

The "confession" also sounds extremely scripted and wasn't in very natural sounding language. I assume they promise to release you if you read the script. Then it's spun for propaganda.

Going there is very risky, especially if you're from the US.

I would honestly doubt though that anyone making that trip is going to do it for giggles. It's not an easy place to get to. In most cases I would say it's genuine curiosity. It's one of the strangest places on earth.

The sense I'm getting is maybe he was chatting and mucking about with the local staff and getting too casual and some senior official decided to grasp the opportunity to arrest a US citizen.

They've been threatening to nuke the US and the US has moved stealth aircraft into the area etc etc

The poor guy is potentially in for absolute hell on earth though.

He's so blatantly stand out that I think it's extremely unlikely he's any kind of spy. He'd be the worst spy ever!

andekwarhola

Surely this will be the final straw for niche, risk-tourism.

At least students can say I was there before politically-motivated draconian incarceration went mainstream.

syklops

People of Ireland take note. It turns out "It was only for a bit of craic" is not a valid excuse in North Korea.

I feel sorry for the guy. I really do. One will hope that maybe an agreement could be reached on getting him expatriated. Maybe Denis Rodman could issue an appeal?

I wouldnt call it victim blaming though. Its not like he nicked the shampoo bottles from his hotel. He stole what he thought was hotel property, but was actually state property. Now I know he never thought for a second he would be stopped, nevermind be pursued by state police and prosecuted, but they take that sort of thing seriously in NK.

If I was handed his sentence, I wouldnt be long for this earth.

old_aussie

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

Why in the name of God would you go to North Korea. Even if you're stupid enough to go you'd have to be a special kind of clown to give them any reason to lock you up. The sentence is obviously ridiculous but the fool put himself in harms way.

Some people will do anything for some selfie lolz

RobertKK

It is very sad what has happened to him, but if you are in North Korea, you are there to only see what what you are allowed to see and take what you are allowed to take.
Do what you are told and get back out safely, or better still don't go as there are so many other places to go on the planet.

He will be out in a number of months which is what happened in previous cases where hard labour was the punishment for US prisoners. He is not a very unfortunate North Korean who is sent to a labour camp and who may end up as dog food, which is one of the things the UN reported about North Korea who compared North Korean human rights violations to that of the Nazis.

12Phase

Do we even know he did anything at all?

This is North Korea you're talking about... During a period of high tension too.

I would take everything with a giant shovel of salt never mind a pinch.

bill66

Can't do the time? don't do the crime!............. especially in NK

eviltwin

I've just been having a read of what hard labour in north Korea actually consists of. It's like hell on earth. Poor guy, he did something stupid but he doesn't deserve this.

syklops

12Phase wrote: »

Do we even know he did anything at all?

This is North Korea you're talking about... During a period of high tension too.

I would take everything with a giant shovel of salt never mind a pinch.

When leaving NK, I would assume all your bags are thoroughly searched. In fact I'd be certain you would be told by your travel operator to assume your bags will be searched, on the way out. That alone would be incentive not to take anything with you, so as you say during a period of heightened tension, maybe the flag was placed in his belongings.

Then a bit of "you are only making it worse for yourself by denying it, you'll get a lightened sentence by admitting it". Next thing you have is an open and shut case.

Arbiter of Good Taste

syklops wrote: »

People of Ireland take note. It turns out "It was only for a bit of craic" is not a valid excuse in North Korea.

That's a good rule of thumb for many places. A lot of Irish people act like tools as soon as they board an airplane off the island.

Jim Bob Scratcher

eviltwin wrote: »

I've just been having a read of what hard labour in north Korea actually consists of. It's like hell on earth. Poor guy, he did something stupid but he doesn't deserve this.

Indeed, scary stuff

From wiki

Former guard An Myong-chol describes the conditions in the camp as harsh and life-threatening.[23] He recalls the shock he felt upon his first arrival at the camp, where he likened the prisoners to walking skeletons, dwarfs, and cripples in rags.[12][24] An estimates that about 30% of the prisoners have deformities, such as torn off ears, smashed eyes, crooked noses, and faces covered with cuts and scars resulting from beatings and other mistreatment. Around 2,000 prisoners, he says, have missing limbs, but even prisoners who need crutches to walk must still work.[25] Prisoners get 180 g (6.3 oz) of corn per meal (two times a day), with almost no vegetables and no meat.[26] The only meat in their diets is from rats, snakes or frogs that they catch.[12][27] Ahn estimates that 1,500–2,000 people die of malnutrition there every year, mostly children.[14] Despite these deaths, the inmate population remains constant, suggesting that around 1,500–2,000 new inmates arrive each year.[28] Children get only very basic education.[29] From six years on they get work assigned, such as picking vegetables, peeling corn or drying rice, but they receive very little food, only 180 g (6.3 oz) in total per day. Therefore, many children die before the age of ten years.[30] Elderly prisoners have the same work requirements as other adults.[31] Seriously ill prisoners are quarantined, abandoned, and left to die.[32]

Single prisoners live in bunkhouses with 100 people in one room. As a reward for good work, families are often allowed to live together in a single room of a small house without running water.[33] But the houses are in poor condition; the walls are made from mud and have a lot of cracks.[34] All prisoners have to use dirty and crowded communal toilets.[35]

Prisoners have to do hard physical labour in agriculture, mining and factories from 5:00 am to 8:00 pm (7:00 pm in winter),[13] followed by ideological re-education and self-criticism sessions.[36] New Year’s Day is the only holiday for prisoners.[37] The mines are not equipped with safety measures and, according to Ahn, prisoners were killed almost every day. They have to use primitive tools, such as shovels and picks, and are forced to work to exhaustion.[19] When there was a fire or a tunnel collapsed, prisoners were abandoned inside and left to die.[38] Kwon Hyuk reported that corpses are simply loaded into cargo coaches together with the coal to be burnt in a melting furnace.[18] The coal is supplied to Chongjin Power Plant, Chongjin Steel Mill and Kimchaek Steel Mill,[39] while the food is supplied to the State Security Agency or sold in Pyongyang and other parts of the country.[19]

BoJack Horseman

eviltwin wrote: »

I've just been having a read of what hard labour in north Korea actually consists of. It's like hell on earth. Poor guy, he did something stupid but he doesn't deserve this.

It may not go so terribly.

It was only a couple of years ago that Kenneth Bae was sentenced to 15 years labour & was released after less than 1 year.... he spent his time working 8 hour days doing farm labour.

..... or it might go very badly altogether.

But I've a feeling he will be used as leverage to bargain for some sort of assistance for the NK government from the USA via China.

Zaph

eviltwin wrote: »

I've just been having a read of what hard labour in north Korea actually consists of. It's like hell on earth. Poor guy, he did something stupid but he doesn't deserve this.

Nobody does, but when the US State Department is advising its citizens not to travel to North Korea, if you are one and you do you shouldn't be doing anything that would give the authorities an excuse to lock you up. Of course it's entirely plausible that he was framed, but if he wasn't and actually stole the flag you'd have to say he's not the sharpest tool in the box.

Berserker

Zaph wrote: »

Of course it's entirely plausible that he was framed, but if he wasn't and actually stole the flag you'd have to say he's not the sharpest tool in the box.

The latter is the case here. The article in the link below states that he was planning on stealing the artefact for someone back home and he was going to get a car in return as a gift. Here is a link to the story and the quote below summarises the deal he had.

In his comments, Warmbier said he was offered a used car worth $10,000 by a member of the church. He said the church member told him the slogan would be hung on its wall as a trophy. He also said he was told that if he was detained and not returned, $200,000 would be paid to his mother in a way of charitable donations.

Berserker

Mr.S wrote: »

lol what an idiot. 0 sympathy. Stealing from North Korea, no matter how dim you are, you just know that's not a good idea.

And probably the worst time to be used as pawn (which he will be) by North Korea.

I'm guessing he'll do a few years and then be released.

NK will get a high profile visit from the US in return for his release, I suspect.

Valetta

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Lots of victim blaming on here.

Don't see anyone blaming the owner of the flag.

darkpagandeath

I'm sure Amnesty will be on soon demanding his release, And if he had a good American name he would be Getting preferential treatment and released or something.

Dohnjoe

darkpagandeath wrote: »

And if he had a good American name he would be Getting preferential treatment and released or something.

Name is nothing to do with it, he is a US citizen and is now a highly publicized bargaining chip for North Korea. They will send him to a labour camp but likely keep him in "good condition" and then exchange him later for behind the scenes concessions

Teyla Emmagan

Poor bollox. That's a hard price to pay for stupidity, he must be terrified.

I think I'd rather a death sentance than 15 years of hard labour in North Korea.

Guy:Incognito

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Now girls, don't be wearing short skirts when you go out, you don't want any unwanted attention... :rolleyes:

Did he wear a "I steal posters " t-shirt and they they decided to plant a stolen poster on him? How is him getting caught stealing anything like what you're implying?

darkpagandeath

Dohnjoe wrote: »

Name is nothing to do with it, he is a US citizen and is now a highly publicized bargaining chip for North Korea. They will send him to a labour camp but likely keep him in "good condition" and then exchange him later for behind the scenes concessions

Think about what I said for a second :pac:

Ice Maiden

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Now girls, don't be wearing short skirts when you go out, you don't want any unwanted attention... :rolleyes:

Strange assessment. You're comparing removal of a state poster in a country where even a hint of disrespect to the state is treated by authorities as an extremely serious crime (no matter how disagreeable this is, that's how it is; this is regularly made known in the west) to someone doing something that should have no consequences.

How come you're not expressing similar about all the other poor divils from NK itself who've been incarcerated?
I find it a bit arrogant of westerners to be visiting NK, with all their comforts and freedoms, just to go have an auld look at a place where the horror is off the scale... for a bit of entertainment. It's also frustratingly naive. You could be arrested for God knows what innocuous utterance or behaviour if it's seen as disrespectful to the state, especially if you're American.

Not that I think the guy deserves it - or that anyone imprisoned there deserves their fate. The poor fecker - monumentally stupid but I feel so sorry for the eejit. Why would people say they have no sympathy for him? How could you not have sympathy for the guy? You can still reel at his stupidity yet simultaneously sympathise with him for what he may be put through.

Jim Bob Scratcher wrote: »

All for stealing a poster :eek:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/us-student-gets-15-years-in-north-korea-for-stealing-poster-1.2575149

Have a read-up on what people get imprisoned for there. Sometimes it's merely because of who they are related to. So yeah, taking a state poster would be extremely serious, particularly if you're from a country that's an enemy of the state.

beach_walker

Harsh. I really thought less of him for crying and blubbering about it though in his plea for mercy. I mean c'mon lad, odds are you'll be traded for some US aid within the year.

ZeitgeistGlee

Stupid, stupid young fella. I feel sorry for him but the absolutely breathtaking lack of cop-on demonstrated even for a 21 year old is appalling. I have to believe that any American or even Westerner in general are warned against travelling to North Korea and if they do travel to make absolutely sure they do absolutely nothing that could get them in legal trouble. To think that a country like NK where subservience and obsequiousness to the State wouldn't severely punish an American who committed a crime against the State is ludicrous.

I imagine NK will play this for all its worth in order to get concessions from the US diplomatically during their current spat. I hope to God one of the idiot POTUS candidates doesn't try to make this a hot-button issue rather than letting the State Department quietly handle it.

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Now girls, don't be wearing short skirts when you go out, you don't want any unwanted attention... :rolleyes:

Because a moronic false equivalence like that is totally not disingenuous or irrelevant. :rolleyes:

MarkAnthony

Frank Underwood would have this sorted...

Ice Maiden

Why are people saying he will be released shortly? Might be - don't know about the "will be".

My name is URL

Mr.S wrote: »

Dennis Rodman?

(side note: who is the black guy at 30 seconds (it's not Mr Rodman), looks really out of place - https://youtu.be/qYUMImDfhoo?t=30s)

Guy in the green top? Looks Asian to me.

handlemaster

If he was Irish they would be having a whip around down the local pub now for his family to visit... as he had no insurance ..

spurious

I'm sure Donald must have an opinion on this...

Iwasfrozen

Jim Bob Scratcher wrote: »

Indeed, scary stuff

From wiki

Former guard An Myong-chol describes the conditions in the camp as harsh and life-threatening.[23] He recalls the shock he felt upon his first arrival at the camp, where he likened the prisoners to walking skeletons, dwarfs, and cripples in rags.[12][24] An estimates that about 30% of the prisoners have deformities, such as torn off ears, smashed eyes, crooked noses, and faces covered with cuts and scars resulting from beatings and other mistreatment. Around 2,000 prisoners, he says, have missing limbs, but even prisoners who need crutches to walk must still work.[25] Prisoners get 180 g (6.3 oz) of corn per meal (two times a day), with almost no vegetables and no meat.[26] The only meat in their diets is from rats, snakes or frogs that they catch.[12][27] Ahn estimates that 1,500–2,000 people die of malnutrition there every year, mostly children.[14] Despite these deaths, the inmate population remains constant, suggesting that around 1,500–2,000 new inmates arrive each year.[28] Children get only very basic education.[29] From six years on they get work assigned, such as picking vegetables, peeling corn or drying rice, but they receive very little food, only 180 g (6.3 oz) in total per day. Therefore, many children die before the age of ten years.[30] Elderly prisoners have the same work requirements as other adults.[31] Seriously ill prisoners are quarantined, abandoned, and left to die.[32]

Single prisoners live in bunkhouses with 100 people in one room. As a reward for good work, families are often allowed to live together in a single room of a small house without running water.[33] But the houses are in poor condition; the walls are made from mud and have a lot of cracks.[34] All prisoners have to use dirty and crowded communal toilets.[35]

Prisoners have to do hard physical labour in agriculture, mining and factories from 5:00 am to 8:00 pm (7:00 pm in winter),[13] followed by ideological re-education and self-criticism sessions.[36] New Year’s Day is the only holiday for prisoners.[37] The mines are not equipped with safety measures and, according to Ahn, prisoners were killed almost every day. They have to use primitive tools, such as shovels and picks, and are forced to work to exhaustion.[19] When there was a fire or a tunnel collapsed, prisoners were abandoned inside and left to die.[38] Kwon Hyuk reported that corpses are simply loaded into cargo coaches together with the coal to be burnt in a melting furnace.[18] The coal is supplied to Chongjin Power Plant, Chongjin Steel Mill and Kimchaek Steel Mill,[39] while the food is supplied to the State Security Agency or sold in Pyongyang and other parts of the country.[19]

We should bomb that country into the stone age.

Ice Maiden

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

We should bomb that country into the stone age.

Who's "We"? All the innocent people who are not part of the regime should also be bombed?

Anyway, surely you know about its nuclear weapons?

Riesen_Meal

I would ****ing love to go to NK, especially after watching several documentaries about the place, as nuts as it sounds I'd love to see it...

I wouldn't be thick enough to bring home a memento of my time there though....

This is a mental documentary about NK :