North Korea arrests American citizen

North Korea arrests American citizen

www.cnn.com

North Korea has arrested a U.S. citizen for committing an unspecified crime against the country, state media said Friday.

Pae Jun Ho entered North Korea on November 3 as a tourist, the official KCNA news agency reported.

He was detained and evidence was uncovered proving that he had committed a crime against the country, the news agency said.

Pae then confessed to the offense, it said. He faces legal action.

Consular officials from the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which looks after U.S. interests in North Korea, visited him Friday.

The United States and North Korea do not

(visit the link for the full news article)


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First off why visit North Korea and for over a month? That is definitely one of the last places I would be thinking to take a vacation too. Apparently according to news.com he was there giving tours

Second, he apparently commited an "unspecified crime." Why not tell us what the crime was? Though I am not surprised at this or any of the rest for that matter.

Third, evidence was uncovered proving that he committed this "unspecified crime." Do you believe that? Why not share this evidence with the type of crime that was committed?

Fourth, the American citizen confessed to the offense. Sure he did and I am sure he did it willingly without any force used to make sure he confessed. Did you believe this?

In the link below from news.com they state "he is likely to become a bargaining chip for the North, an attempt to draw the US into talks."

What are your thoughts ATS? Seems as always with North Korea to be shady. What will be the end result here?

I believe he will be released eventually, but what will it cost???

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

How do we know he wasn't on a recon mission?

I'll reserve judgement until more details are available.

i hope they throw him in jail there....why do people think they can go into north korea and NOT be jailed...."stupid" doesn't need to be protected, it needs to be done away with. the north koreans are serious about their extreme dicatorship, it is non-negotiable, and absolute. i have, at this late stage in my life, no sympathy for any person entering north korea, they do it at their own risk, period......one less stupid person in this world

reply to post by DaTroof


Haha, I was wondering that myself when I first saw the article. If he was I doubt we will every find out though, but we shall see as more information on this pops up.

reply to post by jimmyx


I know I had the exact same reaction at seeing this. It is absurd for anyone outside of North Korea, especially an American, to enter into North Korea and think they will be fine. You are endangering your life going into that country. I definitely agree that it is his own fault that he is in the position he currently is in.

With that being said, I definitely thing Washington will end up negotiating a release similar to what happened to those arrested in North Korea in 2009. Not too surprising this occurred so recently after their rocket launch last week, as it will most likely enable the reopening of talks between America and North Korea, in my opinion.

Pae Jun Ho

Doesn't sound like an American... sounds like a Korean...

Originally posted by SilentKoala

Pae Jun Ho

Doesn't sound like an American... sounds like a Korean...

You shouldn't "pigeon hole" Pae Jun Ho.
May be a Korean national with American citizenship, or American born of Korean heritage.

reply to post by SilentKoala


reply to post by abecedarian


Yes, abecedarian you are right.

Pae Jun Ho is of Korean descent, and apparently in the state of Washington where he lives he is also known as Kenneth Bae. (This according to news.com - one of the related links above)

reply to post by jimmyx


There are people that travel to North Korea every year and visit and they aren't arrested for just being there.

Originally posted by octotom
reply to post by jimmyx

 

There are people that travel to North Korea every year and visit and they aren't arrested for just being there.

Yes, this is a fair point and it appears he was mainly in Rajin.

Rajin is part of a special economic zone not far from Yanji, China, that has sought to draw foreign investors and tourists over the past year. Yanji, home to many ethnic Korean Chinese, also serves as a base for Christian groups that shelter North Korean defectors.

However, after the rocket was launched it might have been wise to leave the country. The last time Americans were arrested in North Korea was in 2009, which was the time when North Korea last did a rocket launch. It appears they arrest American citizens around these launches to open back talks with the US after openly defying them. It is a nice bargaining chip for them indeed.

I can get to Iran if I really want to, that doesn't make it any sort of good idea.

He probably thought he could arrive there, and criticize the leadership, or maybe he thought he’d get some poor North Koreans much more likely to be killed by the state, through telling them dangerous information about the outside world?
Either way: There are thousands of bold, adventure seekers, going to NK every year without getting arrested (as octotom notes). He’s probably an exceptionally arrogant-brave individual! Will they be putting him into orbit?

reply to post by Liberal1984


It doesn't appear that he was doing anything as dangerous as the possibilities you bring up. His profession apparently in his home state of Washingotn is as a tour operator. And

In Seoul, the Segye Ilbo newspaper reported last week that Bae had been taking tourists on a five-day trip to the North when he was arrested. The newspaper cited unidentified sources.

Therefore, it does appear to be slightly different from the arrests in 2009, which were journalists and people trying to spread Christianity. However, it might not be too different and we simply do not know about it at this time, as reports as of now simply say he committed and supposedly confessed to an "unspecified crime." So we have no clue if he was spreading Christianity, news of the outside, criticizing leadership, or simply just giving tours as it appears to be right now.

Haha, I doubt they would put him into orbit, however, I wouldnt put it past North Korea.

reply to post by theUNKNOWNawaits


Well it may have something to do with this from your source.

One of the tour members was carrying a computer hard disk "that apparently contained sensitive information," Yonhap News reported, citing a Korean-language paper.

What sensitive information would a tourist be carrying around? If I remember correctly, I thought it was illegal to carry that sort of stuff around in North Korea anyway?

reply to post by DarknStormy


That was not in the original article I posted in the OP. Just checked the article and it appears it has been updated with this new information, as well as this update

A U.S. official told CNN last week that an American citizen named Kenneth Bae had been detained in North Korea for more than a month.

and

The U.S. official said Bae had made several trips to North Korea previously, and that he was not believed to have been mistreated in detention.

So apparently the detainment is not as recent as first reported and that he has been held for over a month now practically since he first entered North Korea and prior to the rocket launch. Maybe the sensitive information has something to do with the launch? What is interesting is that one of the toursits on the tour he was conducting had this sensitive information not Bae himself. So why was he detained and not the tourist who had the disk?

reply to post by theUNKNOWNawaits


Considering he has been there back and forward and not arrested previously, you would have to think that he has done something wrong. From the add ons in the article, I would almost think spying. But without any confirmed information, no-one nows whats going on.

reply to post by DarknStormy


This is true it does appear that way. Perhaps though since he is the tour guide he is supposed to ensure nothing like that is being held by any of the tourists, however, this would be impossible unless he searched everyone. Or perhaps he was the only American in the whole group and they though while we have to arrest someone for having this sensitive information lets hold the American responsible to utilize him as a bargaining chip to reopen talks with the US. Or perhaps the sensitive information was planted or is not even real.

Your right the reports as of now appear that it may have something to do with spying. Might explain the numerous trips to North Korea and giving tours would be a nice cover to be able to go around and do some spying. Lots of possibilities right now on what could really be going on in this incident, hopefully more information will pop up and shed some more light on it.

Originally posted by theUNKNOWNawaits


First off why visit North Korea and for over a month? That is definitely one of the last places I would be thinking to take a vacation too. Apparently according to news.com he was there giving tours

Second, he apparently commited an "unspecified crime." Why not tell us what the crime was? Though I am not surprised at this or any of the rest for that matter.

Third, evidence was uncovered proving that he committed this "unspecified crime." Do you believe that? Why not share this evidence with the type of crime that was committed?

Fourth, the American citizen confessed to the offense. Sure he did and I am sure he did it willingly without any force used to make sure he confessed. Did you believe this?

In the link below from news.com they state "he is likely to become a bargaining chip for the North, an attempt to draw the US into talks."

What are your thoughts ATS? Seems as always with North Korea to be shady. What will be the end result here?

I believe he will be released eventually, but what will it cost???

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

LOL, this guy was probobly in there on some spy mission for your government, after all this isnt so hard to believe, its the most logical answer america has spies in every country along with Israel.
and this.

Fourth, the American citizen confessed to the offense. Sure he did and I am sure he did it willingly without any force used to make sure he confessed. Did you believe this?

oh man I laughed at this one, after the CIA got busted torturing sodomising the guy in macedonia ( for information) then blamed it on them, of course it was there fault it was there country not like the American professionalism has anything to do with it a solid arse raping always produced confession in a 3rd world country I wonder how Kenneth Bae is feeling today

Ahem meanwhile here at home in North America people are being arrested and tazered just for the fun of it.

Try and take a picture or video of your arrest and that is good for a beating.......

I think we should look inside the box in the case our own jurisdiction before passing judgement on a country we know %%%% all about.

This reminds me of the hikers that were nabbed in Iran.......CIA ?

All these stupid games at the cost of world peace.

Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by repeatoffender


Yes, him being on a spy mission does seem to be a logical answer, especially with the disk containing sensitive information apparently being found. However, what I still am failing to understand is the fact that the disk was found on one of the tourists and not Bae the tour guide. So why is he being the one detained?

Oh I know our government has similar techniques of getting information. There is no American professionalism, in my opinion. Haha, I am sure Bae has been having a difficult stay. The other thing I am failing to understand though is if he has been held for over a month why is it just coming to our attention now? Did it take them this long to get him to confess or has North Korea been waiting for the right time to bring this up to use him as a bargaining chip?


reply to post by Iwinder


Like I said to repeatoffender I know things are not that great in our own country and that their are numerous problems here, such as the ones you have mentioned. Our own jurisdiction, indeed, has many issues, but that does not mean I should just turn a blind eye to this story or any story outside our own country and not care about it. Just because there is problems at home does not mean I should not be aware or care about problems outside.

Additionally, this whole incident/story appears shady from so many different angles that I find it hard not to get interested in it. There are so many unanswered questions and with the previous American arrests in 2009 in North Korea it appears to be partially a political move on the chess board that the countries of the world play on.

I do not feel that I have necessarily passed judgment on North Korea. I feel that I have brought up some legitimate questions based on the information that has been told about this incident/story and North Korea's history. Personally, this is something I will keep my eye on.

Yes, the incident in Iran does appear to be slightly similar although Iran was never able to cough up any evidence that they were in fact spies. Perhaps North Korea learned from this, thus one of Bae's tourists had a disk with sensitive information. Also, the hikers in Iran were detained for over 2 years in Iran. If I am Bae I hope I get out a lot sooner that that.

In the end, I totally agree with you that the political games countries play in our stupid and diminish the likelihood of world peace from ever happening. Such a sad world we live in today.