STATE DEPT: NKOREA CONFIRMS IT'S HOLDING AMERICAN

[JaneyVee]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — State Department says North Korea acknowledges it is holding an American citizen but hasn't granted diplomats consular access so the person's identity is not yet confirmed.

Expectation will be that it is Merrill Newman of California. The 85-year old Korean War veteran's family says he was detained at the end of a tourist trip to North Korea last month.

Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki (SAH'-kee) told reporters on Friday that Sweden has been informed by Pyongyang that it is detaining an American citizen. Because the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, Sweden oversees consular issues for the United States there.

Psaki says the Swedish Embassy is daily requesting access to the American.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/state-dept-says-nkorea-has-confirmed-its-holding-american-citizen-identity-not-confirmed

[Autumn]

1. Dennis Rodman???

[Duer 157099]

2. My first thought

please please please

[herding cats]

16. Have you seen the recent commercial where Rodman buys a one-way ticket to North Korea?

I dug up the video. The scene where Rodman buys the ticket to NK is hilarious.

The video is at the bottom of this article. http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/Greatest_sports_commercial_ever_Because_Mike_Tyson_and_Dennis_Rodman.html

[Autumn]

23. LOL thanks for that

Obama should offer to trade Rodman for this Veteran.

[sharp_stick]

3. I can understand the weird

draw of visiting a really unusual place but I'll be damned if I ever drop a dime to support a place that is so Stalinist and out of this world crazy that it would probably make Stalin himself look twice and say "Holy shit dude, dial it back a bit".

[randome]

5. Neither would I but this guy was a North Korean veteran.

I would assume the country has more significance to him than either you or me.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[sharp_stick]

8. I didn't notice it but you're right

he is a Korean war vet. That being said, he's in some serious shit now, there isn't much that those wackos hate more than a generic American but a Korean war vet is one of them.

I don't know what pulled him in there but going was a very very dangerous thing, I hope he knew that before he went.

[grantcart]

13. He fought for North Korea?

Assume you meant that he fought for the US during the Korean War.

[randome]

19. Uh, yeah, that's what I meant. Poorly worded on my part.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[davidpdx]

22. See #21

[Marrah_G]

4. I don't think there will be a good outcome from this

He is an American Korean Vet. In the eyes of North Koreans this puts him right up there with the Devil. The populace still is living in the era of that war. They still consider the US the enemy.

I wish he had not made the choice to visit there.

[randome]

6. They will trade him for eight thousand gallons of Coldstone Ice Cream!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[Matariki]

7. Who goes on a 'tourist' trip to North Korea?

[Scootaloo]

9. Tourists, mostly n/t

[Matariki]

11. lol - but really, why?

North Korea? Ugh. You gotta be some kind of crazy masochistic tourist for that itinerary.

Have you ever seen this film, The Red Chapel, it's both hilarious and nerve wracking: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104746/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

[sharp_stick]

14. Because it's weird

and touring the weird and inaccessible has become really chic the last few years.

[Scootaloo]

15. Well, it's an interesting place

I'll stick with watching the Vice guys go through the place... and always feel sorry for that poor lonely woman working at an empty state-owned hotel in the middle of nowhere.

http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3

[christx30]

10. Someone that never watches the news? n/t

[geek tragedy]

12. They'll probably accuse him of 'war crimes' nt

[Ash_F]

17. There is a precedence of US Korean war vets visiting NK.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec13/northkorea_07-25.html

"Among those attending today's ceremonies were two decorated U.S. veterans of the Korean War. They were on a mission to find the remains of a fellow aviator killed at the Chosin Reservoir in 1950. But flooding prevented them from visiting the site of one of the war's deadliest battles."

This is the first I heard of one being detained. Hopefully, whatever it is, they will leave it be and send him home.

[Beacool]

18. I don't understand why some Americans insist on going to N. Korea and Iran.

Is Bill Clinton going to have to meet with little Kim to obtain the release of this guy?

Why go to a place where Americans are not welcome? It's just plain dumb. Remember the three students who wandered into Iran supposedly by accident?

[Posteritatis]

20. A vet in his eighties wanting to visit the old battlefields makes sense to me. (nt)

[davidpdx]

21. Both are dangerous

The thing with the people who got caught in Iran is they were up in the mountains and didn't realize they had crossed a boarder. That was just plain stupid. Most of the people in Iran do like Americans. I met an Iranian student when I was an undergrad in college. The ones you have to worry about are the real extremists (like any country). I haven't heard of many incidents with Iran, it is more people going into North Korea.

I live in South Korea and there is interest among those who study and watch what is going on there in seeing it. Prior to the most recent skirmish (which happen often) there were day tours to Kaesong and to a several day tours to a mountain on the eastern side of the country. There was a tour on the mountain and a South Korean woman wondered into an area she wasn't suppose to be in and was supposedly warned, then she was shot. After that the tours stopped.

The most recent cases I know of in terms of Americans in North Korea are:

1) The current case of the Merrill Newman who is a Korean War vet. He was apparently talking about his time in the war, which could have been offensive.

2) Kenneth Bae, he was supposedly proselytizing. A big no no in North Korea.

3) Robert Park, an activist who crossed the Tumen River between China and North Korea (I believe there was some religious aspect to this one as well).

4) Laura Ling and Euna Lee back in 2009 when President Clinton went and helped secure their release. They were there filming a documentary.

If you look at the last three cases, the people were blatantly breaking the rules. What Newman did was just unwise. I'm not saying I necessarily blame the activists, but there are risks that come with doing that stuff and you have to be willing to accept that. That they are detaining Newman doesn't make much sense at all to me.

Most people who visit North Korea on like day trips don't have problems. I have had friends who have went and that are just curious about life there. I wouldn't go on a longer trip (those go through China) as staying more than a day isn't something I'd risk.

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

24. Why the hell...

...would anyone want to visit that place? Is it like a car crash, you just can't turn away? It defies logic.