Screw you, jackass

The original title was set to be "Fu¢k you, aßßhole," but the use of profanity within a headline itself seems so unseemly.

Back when The Stupogants™ (i.e., Laura Ling, Euna Lee, and Mitch Koss) ran afoul of the North Korean authorities in 2009 — leading to the detainment, conviction, and incarceration for Ms Ling and Ms Lee — I got a bit of flack for my criticism of those three for what they did and how they did it. At places like One Free Korea, it was merely ideological and based on interpretations of the facts, but in other places it got more personal, including accusations of plagiarism.

With apparent Christian missionary Kenneth Bae being the latest guest at the Pyongyang Palazzo, it's natural that some are drawing parallels between Mr Bae and the case of Ms Ling and Lee (and Mr Koss), or even that of Messianic crusader Robert Park and his buddy Aijalon Gomes. I myself did so in a recently post.

But what gets in my craw today is this comment by Marmot's Hole dweller DLBarch in response to the news (carried also by me yesterday) that Kim Jong-un's new BFF Dennis Rodman has asked KJU to do him a solid and pardon Mr Bae:

I am never in favor of standing by while any American — even the Kenneth Bae’s of the country — are incarcerated on trumped up charges by an odious, repugnant regime like North Korea, so I do think the U.S. needs to do what it can, within reason, to seek Bae’s release.

But, but…it is fascinating to compare how the MH commentariat has treated the Kenneth Bae incident with how it treated Laura Ling and Euna Lee not too long ago. The full-throated vituperation and, yes, barely disguised misogyny that surrounded the Ling and Lee drama is nowhere to be found in the latest Bae hostage taking.

Given Bae’s voluntarily — and repeatedly — entered North Korea whereas Ling and Lee got misled into inadvertently crossing the North Korea-China border, this difference of popular reaction to the two incidents is striking. Bae seems to be getting a huge pass, while Ling and Lee were thoroughly excoriated in the most personal of attacks.

Pretty damning.

DLB

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't take regard as direct criticism of my views since I do not comment at The Marmot's Hole anymore (no, not in any way, shape, or form for many years now), but since I was early on the preeminent critic of The Stupogants™ (enough that Laura Ling's famous sister, Lisa Ling, contacted me directly about my criticisms) and there was an entire post at The Marmot's Hole about my views on the matter, I'm taking DLB's bogus comments personal, at least as they relate to me.

While I agree with DLB's first paragraph, to describe my "full-throated vituperation" as "barely disguised misogyny" is preposterous, and demonstrably false for a number of reasons. Let's go over them, shall we?

• Do a word string search for "Mitch Koss" at my site and you'll see me referring to him repeatedly in my criticisms of The Stupogants. My full-throated vituperation of Ling and Lee extends to him as well, and that was early on. It has nothing to do with them being women; the closest I got to a gendered comment was mocking Koss — who managed to escape while Ling and Lee ended up captured — for his lack of chivalry in saving his own ass.

• I also spent considerable time skewering Robert Park, a mentally troubled man who can't decide if he's Moses or the Messiah. Robert Park, you may have noticed, is a man. Ditto with Aijalon Mahli Gomes. 

• The criticism of The Stupogants is valid and has nothing to do with their gender. They were there for personal gain (fame from getting the scoop of all scoops) and their journalistic negligence — they were carrying tapes of the escaped refugees they'd interviewed! — may well have cost lives and caused the North Korean authorities to plug up an important escape route. (Likewise, Robert Park's crazy walkabout into North Korea was about increasing his own fame.)

• Unlike The Stupogants or Mr Park, Mr Bae has been risking his freedom for something that offers no financial aggrandizement or opportunity for fame. In fact, if his life-endangering "mission" is offering hope and escape to individuals in the North (or providing a slow-dose poison pill to the regime), his motives are the diametric opposite of those of The Stupogants. Consequently, any "striking" difference in levels of criticism would be about something other than gender. 

• My "attacks" on Lee and Ling (or Koss) were no more "personal" than to admonish others not to buy their books, because they shouldn't profit from their foolishness and arrogance that endangered some extremely vulnerable people in China and North Korea. They sought publicity afterwards, and that opens them up for scrutiny and, if warranted, criticism.   

• Whether or not Bae "gets a huge pass" will depend a lot on what information comes out when he's released. If it turns out that he knowingly did careless things that could bring considerable harm on those he encountered — as was the case with Koss, Lee, and Ling — I will be first in line to pillory him for that. The Stupogants were depicted as innocents who just got lost, when the reality turned out to be quite different; if I was so full-throated in my vituperation, it's because I recognized that early on and I was at first the lone voice in saying so.

• Oh, and Ms Ling and Ms Lee did not "inadvertently cross the North Korea-China border" (which is a river, by the way). They knowingly and deliberately crossed in order to have a great hook for their program. 

So in conclusion, one can make the case that I am inconsistent in whom I criticize or that my thought processes can be a tad inscrutable at times (though I would submit there is a clear, but complex, pattern), but if someone throws some bogus charge at me like plagiarism or "damning" misogynistic criticism, and you've got hell to pay, aßßhole.

KSB

...

Detained American in North Korea was there as a clandestine missionary

That is what the North Korea News is reporting:

An NK News investigation shows that Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American currently being detained by the North Korean government, is a trained missionary who was using his China-based tour company as a platform to bring missionaries into North Korea. The news comes following a statement released Sunday by the Korea Central News Agency which said that Bae had "disguised his identity" upon entering North Korea.

The NK News investigation shows that Bae was initially sent to China by the evangelical missionary organization “Youth With a Mission” (YWAM) in 2006. The organization is designed to help equip missionaries with the skills needed to convert people into Christians.

Those who recall my skewering of The Stupogants™Laura Ling and Euna Lee (and Mitch Koss), or Messiah Complex-afflicted Robert Park and his buddy Aijalon Gomes may be surprised that I'm far less critical and much more sympathetic to the plight of Kenneth Bae, who was recently sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor.

I've met a number of North Korean refugees and those who quietly are trying to fish them out, and they are nothing like the publicity whores (I'm trying to think of a nicer way to say that) that have ventured into North Korea to further their own careers (e.g. The Stupogants) or their own suicidal delusions of salvadorism (e.g., Robert Park and possibly his buddy Aijalon Gomes).

Rather, it is the missionaries who quietly enter the DPRK who are bringing the message of hope and possible regime change. They are the ones who — if their message takes hold and their underground railroad stays in place — may pose a real threat to the regime by changing the calculus of support and fear. Those who have a means to escape or are attuned to a higher being with a grander purpose may become impervious to the terror tactics employed by the power machine.

And that is messy work. It takes people with a willingness to risk their lives and safety on a daily basis to go in and out, again and again, until the regime has fallen or has changed beyond recognition. Kenneth Bae is a casualty of this, and it is my fervent hope that what he loses is little more than his freedom temporarily.

I pray also that he doesn't reveal — directly or inadvertently — the identities and whereabouts of people who might be harmed by the regime for having worked with him or even merely come in contact with him. That was one of my biggest criticisms of The Stupogants: Not only had they caused the North to plug up an important escape route, but they had the videotapes of their refugee interviewees on their person when they were caught!

At this point I hope and pray Kenneth Bae is released soon and without harm to him or anyone touched by him, and that we don't expend significant political or actual capital in order to secure his freedom.

...

Park pens

Monster Island's favorite Stupogant™, Robert Park, the daytripper who decided to traipse into North Korea to purposefully get himself arrested, has penned an op-ed in the Washington Examiner on the food shortages in North Korea. As you may recall, Mr Park eventually had to be fished out of Pyongyang by the Obama administration, which almost certainly had to use some of its own political and/or actual capital in order to rescue him. His retrieval from North Korea occurred only after he gave a glowing thumbs-up to the regime (which he later recanted).

Though I disagree with the guy's former tactics and I think he is mentally unstable, I do pretty much agree with the gist of his article (what does that say about me?!), which is that any famine up in the DPRK is not caused by natural disasters but rather is orchestrated by the regime, which uses food as a means of control. Go and read it yourself.

My favorite part, though, is the description of the author at the end:

Human rights activist Robert Park traveled to North Korea in December 2009.

That inadequately understated sentence reminds me of Kenneth Markle, the former USFK soldier who served fourteen years in ROK's foreigner prison for the brutal rape and murder of a South Korean bargirl. From his cell, he would write occasional pieces that got into the Pacific Stars & Stripes and even Korea's English-language papers, with the simple description that, "The author is a resident of Cheonan."

...

Eddie Jun stuck in North Korea but "well cared for"

Remember Eddie Jun, aka Youngsu Jun? His family sure does.

If you don't, here's a refresher: he's the Orange County kyopo who ended up getting arrested while in North Korea, for some crime he has confessed to but which has still not been specified to the rest of the world. Some had hoped that "The Elder" Jimmy Carter would be able to secure Mr Jun's release from the Pyongyang Palazzo, but President Peanut was snubbed.

Mr Jun remains in North Korea, but we get word that he is being treated okay and has even been allowed contact with his family:

The U.S. government says that an American detained by North Korea since November is being well cared for and has been permitted to speak to his family by phone.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Wednesday Swedish diplomats have visited Eddie Jun six times since March and were continuing at U.S. request to ask for regular consular access.

Sweden looks after U.S. interests in the communist state.

Toner called for Jun's immediate release on humanitarian grounds so he can be reunited with his family.

The literal message is that traipsing
into North Korea isn't very bright.

I'd really like to know what he was arrested for. Given his religious background, it could be anything from helping ferry North Koreans out of the DPRK and the PRC, to proselytizing and/or passing out religious materials, to helping spread discontent about the Pyongyang regime. And any of those could mean big trouble if he's convicted (which is likely).

Sure, the US eventually released Evan Hunziker, Robert Park, Aijalon Mahli Gomes, Laura Ling, and Euna Lee, but not until after a lot of hemming and hawing and perhaps some backroom quid pro quo (e.g., a favorite topic of Joshua at One Free Korea: not putting North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terror).

If this doesn't scream, "Stay the #+¢& away!" then I can't help you.

Well, despite my public proclamations about the foolishness of Americans publicly and purposefully going into North Korea without permission and the danger it puts on everyday North Koreans trying to escape or the way it ties the hands of Washington and its allies, I do hope and pray that Mr Jun is okay and continues to be okay. (And I add: we don't know yet why he was nabbed.)

If he's already staying at whatever villa is being used as the Pyongyang Palazzo and he's being seen by the Swedes and even allowed to call California, I'm not too terribly worried for Mr Jun's safety right now. Euna Lee and particularly Laura Ling were physically harmed during their ordeal, but this was almost entirely during their capture when they escaped back into Chinese territory. After they were in custody they were placed in a darkened room with no access to hot water, a form of torture DPRK citizens call "being in North Korea."

On the other hand, if he is actually convicted, things could be different. Though he would likely be released, the difference between Mr Jun and most of the others is that he is a full-blooded ethnic Korean and a male, and therefore with few mitigating excuses to release him.

So far only Robert Park fit that description, and I think the Pyongyang authorities quickly realized he was a nutjob and wanted to get rid of him. It helped things along that Robert Park cracked and told the KCNA everything they wanted to hear. People can be very magnanimous after a propaganda victory.

American held in North Korea is identified as kyopo

In a follow-up to this story, we get a report that North Korea has identified the American citizen they are holding.

From the New York Times:

North Korea said Thursday that it had arrested an American citizen, identified as Jun Young Su, in November for an unspecified crime against North Korea and was preparing to indict him, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. North Korea has informed American officials of the arrest, it said.

Earlier I was guessing the detainee, based on past incidents, was a kyopo religious zealot. So now that he's been confirmed to be a kyopo, the question is whether we can check off the religious zealot box.

I can't seem to find it in North Korea's English- or Korean-language news sources, but that may simply be because it hasn't hit their news cycle yet. I'm assuming, for the time being, that "Jun Youn Su" is 전영수. Dang, I hate the space-between-syllables way of writing out Korean names.

Anyway, the China Daily is reporting, through Xinhua, that Mr Jun has "admitted his crime":

The US citizen Jun Young Su detained in Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) recently admitted his crime against DPRK after entering it, the official news agency KCNA reported on Thursday.

Jun Young Su has admitted his crime in the course of investigation conducted by a relevant organ, according to KCNA.

The US side was informed of this through a relevant channel and necessary humanitarian conveniences including consular contact are being provided to him through the Swedish embassy here which looks after US interests, said the report.

The relevant organ is making arrangements to indict him according to the confirmation of the charges against him, the report added.

Jun Young Su was arrested in November 2010.

Reading comprehension question: Did you catch what his crime was? It seems this Xinhua release was penned by the same person at the National Museum of China who explained in detail all about the Cultural Revolution. I'm guessing the crime might be entering the DPRK itself (North Korea is a bit like Norteamérica that way).

The guy issuing a confession must mean Carter is already on his way.

Another American detained in North Korea

Oh, God. Not another one. I hope this man (detained since November?!) isn't another friend of Robert Park — or Robert Park himself (oh, wouldn't that be a hoot?). I can just see a savvy kyopo religious zealot getting legal permission to enter the country under the auspices of conducting business, and then handing out Bibles or "What would Yesunim do?" bumper stickers.

Luckily for him, Jimmy Carter is already on his way to Pyongyang (AFP story here), so his time in the Pyongyang Palazzo may be short-lived.

UPDATE:
If this is something quite different from what Robert Park, Aijalon Gomes, or even Lisa Ling and Euna Lee, I will issue a retraction regarding my snarky suggestions above. But for now, all cases of Americans getting detained in North Korea have involved stupogance and/or a Moses complex.

UPDATE 2 (Thursday, April 14, 1:02 p.m.):
North Korea has released the name of the man they're holding, Jun Young Su. And he has apparently confessed what he did wrong.

Robert Park explains himself

Robert Park, the guy with the messianic complex who traipsed into North Korea one day thinking that this brazen act would topple the North Korean regime, is in the news explaining himself. (But first, let me explain his self: Apparently, he figured, the DPRK propaganda ship is designed like the Death Star, such that, despite billions of dollars of munitions and layer after layer of redundant security weaponry, a single hit by some kid from the desert can bring the whole thing down.)

Do I go with a joke about phallic-shaped
mics or do I just call him a drama queen?

Writing at One Free Korea, frequent commenter and Park/Gomes cheerleader KCJ says Robert Park interview "confirms [his] analysis" that Mr Park's confession was dictated to him.

Ah, but to the rest of us, it just confirms our analysis that Robert Park (and Aijalon Mahli Gomes) shouldn't have gone in the first place.

But let's analyze Mr Park's latest brush with the media for what it might tell us:

He added that to prevent him from divulging the details of his detention, the security forces carried out humiliating sexual torture. "As a result of what happened to me in North Korea, I've thrown away any kind of personal desire. I will never, you know, be able to have a marriage or any kind of relationship."

We've already covered the "humiliating sexual torture" bit. I wasn't so certain before, but now I'm becoming more and more convinced that Robert Park is a latent homosexual (the suicidal tendencies which include going to North Korea to "sacrifice" himself in the first place, the narrative about not being ever able to be with a woman, etc.). And he has now engineered a perfect cover to hold off the church ajummas and his own parents who might have pushed him to settle down.

Park insisted that an apology he read on North Korean TV was dictated to him.

Not just his apology, but also his flowery praise of North Korea. Here's a tidbit:

Not only service personnel but all those I met in the DPRK treated me in a kind and gentlemanly manner and protected my rights.

I have never seen such kind and generous people.

People have been incredibly kind and generous here to me, very concerned for my physical health as never before in my life. I mean, my family, of course, is concerned about my physical health but people here have been constantly concerned and I'm very thankful for their love.

Another shocking fact I experienced during my stay in the DPRK is that the religious freedom is fully ensured in the DPRK, a reality different from what is claimed by the West.
Being a devout Christian, I thought such things as praying are unimaginable in the DPRK due to the suppression of religion.

I, however, gradually became aware that I was wrong.

Everybody neither regarded praying as something unusual nor disturbed it. I was provided with conditions for praying everyday as I wished.

Okay, then. How hard was the bayonet pushed into your back for you to say all that?

Back to the Chosun Ilbo piece:

Asked why he decided to enter the North illegally armed with nothing but a Bible, he said, "I hoped through my sacrifice, that people will come together and they will liberate North Korea."

Instead, he strengthened the regime's hand. Please, no more day-trippers to North Korea.

Robert Park comes around in Christianity Today

It should come as no surprise to my readers that I sometimes feel that Robert Park — he who traipsed into North Korea with the demand that Kim Jong-il resign from his position and unshackle the North Korean people on his way out, only to be followed by his friend, the equally quixotic Aijalon Mahli Gomes — really sticks in my craw.

Frankly, although he and I are both deeply troubled about the plight of people stuck under Pyongyang's thumb and the North Koreans who have escaped but remain in hiding in China, I have made no secret that I think his consternation is fatally muddied by an apparent Messianic complex (or at least a Mosaic one).

Moreover, like daytrippers Euna Lee, Laura Ling, and the aforementioned Mr Gomes, I think Mr Park's exploits have generated considerably more detriment than benefit.

And according to this article in Christianity Today, Mr Park seems to be coming around to my point of view on the futility of his media whoring publicity stunt:

"My hope was, through sacrifice, that maybe there would be repentance and people could come together to address issues in North Korea," he said.

But Park said that did not happen.

"It takes work, and the church and human rights groups have to realize the most important thing is that we come together," he said. "This generation has to be captivated and compelled because this is the most systematically intentional genocide since the Holocaust."

Park says he is not angry with God, but he is frustrated with the church.

"My wish and my hope and prayer is for the church to rise and spearhead the move for liberation," he said.

That first paragraph still sounds a bit like it's all about him, but at least he recommends something that I've been saying all along is the best way for those feeling the need for personal sacrifice (of the monetary or bodily variety):

Park says one of the best ways for Christians to help North Koreans is to redirect money to refugees and North Koreans assisting refugees.

"North Korean people know how to get money to hard-hit areas that can lead to family reunification and food going to inaccessible areas when other organizations are not quite as urgent or knowledgeable," he said. "The North Korean people themselves love their homeland and they desire liberation more than anyone else—their hearts are in North Korea."

Here we agree as well.

Nevertheless, my opinion that Mr Park may be both Messianic and suicidal remains strong. In an earlier Christianity Today article, he actually talks about his motivations to commit suicide:

Park says his concern for Gomes and frustration over the lack of media coverage and response to his friend's imprisonment have led him to speak out—and were the cause of his plans for a July 16 suicide demonstration.

Park said he was ready to end his life because nothing was being done, "but God stopped it through the intervention of a friend."

"I was planning to kill myself with a suicide note to bring attention to Aijalon—I feel responsible for him being there," Park said. "He is one of my best friends, and I prayed for my life to be taken and not his."

A suicide demonstration?! Clearly this is a troubled man, and it is incumbent on organizations like Christianity Today that trot him out before the media to also keep a watchful eye on his darker side. Sure, let's highlight him singing the praises of getting real work done to help North Koreans in the PRC and the DPRK, but keep him away from the soapboxes.

US issues travel warning to idiots with messiah complexes not to go to North Korea

Enough already! Our ex-Presidents have enough to do as it is.

(More on this later.)

North Korea is now on Twitter

Yep. And here's the direct link.

You just know Robert Park is kicking himself for having gone to North Korea before the DPRK officially started tweeting, because he could have put that whole "Respect human rights and step down from your position, Kim Jong-il" message into 140 characters or less and saved himself a whole lot of trouble.

I will say, though, I dread the eventual message I get that reads, "Kushibo, North Korea is now following you on Twitter." That is, if it isn't happening already.

US medical team reportedly visits Aijalon Mahli Gomes

That North Korea is leaving access open to Mr Gomes is a good sign, methinks. From AFP:

The United States said Monday that a US consular official and two doctors last week visited in a Pyongyang hospital an American serving hard labor in North Korea for an illegal border crossing.

"We requested permission to visit Mr. (Ajalon) Gomes. That permission from the North Korean government was granted," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

Crowley said a translator accompanied the consular official and doctors on the visit, adding: "I believe they visited him in a hospital."

He said the team was in Pyongyang from August 9 through August 11.

"The basis of the trip was simply our ongoing concerns about Mr. Gomes's health and welfare," Crowley said.

Given that there have been reports of Mr Gomes attempting suicide and he may still be in a hospital because of that, there is reason for concern about his health and well-being. On the other hand, if the suicide attempt has kept him from hard labor (as he was sentenced), then perhaps it's a cause for optimism. We won't know until he is released whether he really was put into a regular prison camp or he was put up at the Pyongyang Palazzo.

At any rate, even if his release is not pending (Pyongyang is no doubt hoping to use him as a bargaining chip, though I don't know if Mrs Clinton and the Obama Administration are willing to let that happen), it is a good sign for those who hope to see him released that US consular officers and medical staff have access to him. It means, at least, that they're probably not using him for bayonet practice or a punching bag.

I just wonder what Pyongyang will try to get for his release, and if they'll get it or something halfway. This dilemma, of course, is one of the reasons I've been so critical of the walkabouts of Robert Park and Mr Gomes: At some level it does hamstring Washington's ability to operate with a free hand. Joshua at One Free Korea seems to believe that North Korea was kept off the State Sponsors of Terror list as a means to get Robert Park out of the DPRK, while an argument can be made that a post-Ch'ŏnan reinstatement of North Korea on the list can't easily occur until after Mr Gomes is released.

Talks to get Aijalon Mahli Gomes released?

NOTE: Prepare yourself for the Ultimate Aijalon Mahli Gomes Link Fest™!

UPDATE (August 24, 2010):
Jimmy Carter is reportedly headed to North Korea to gain Mr Gomes's release.

ORIGINAL POST:
UPI is reporting that Washington and Pyongyang (and Sweden) are in talks over the possible release of Robert Park follower Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who also walked straight into North Korea with a martyrdom-inspired message of peace.

It has been just over six months since he was arrested and just under four months since he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment. Based on the past cases of Evan Hunziker, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and Robert Park, it's past time to call out Howie and play "Deal or No Deal." Especially since Mr Gomes is (like Robert Park) reportedly suicidal (and as much as it pains me to say it, I give a lot of weight to KCNA reports on the foreigners North Korea imprisons).

[source]

It's no secret that I don't like what he did and I want others to stop following in Robert Park's messianic footsteps (and post-release antics), but I still hope Mr Gomes can come home soon (even fellow skeptic Joshua Stanton agrees).

Just don't write a book. I'd hate to have to launch a preemptive boycott, only to let down my opposition when you send my mother a free copy.

KCNA on Aijalon Mahli Gomes trial

The KCNA issued its report on the trial of the follower of Robert Park (literally and figuratively) who also went on walkabout into the North:

A trial of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, male U.S. citizen, was held at a court of justice of the Central Court of the DPRK on Tuesday.

An examination was made of the hostile act committed against the Korean nation and the trespassing on the border of the DPRK against which an indictment was brought in and his guilt was confirmed according to the relevant articles of the criminal code of the DPRK at the trial. On this basis, the court sentenced him to eight years of hard labor and a fine of 70 million won.

The accused admitted all the facts which had been put under accusation.

The presence of representatives of the Swedish embassy here to witness the trial was allowed as an exception at the request of the Swedish side protecting the U.S. interests.

I'm a bit disturbed that the KCNA didn't mention that Mr Gomes went into the North to protest human rights abuses and demand that Dear Leader Kim Jong-il step down. I mean, how will the people know that's the real reason if the KCNA and the Rodong Shinmun don't print it. I think I shall fire off a letter to the editor to the Hamhung Herald or the Kaesong Crier to bring this matter to their attention.

In all seriousness, though, I do find it interesting (if it's true), that there is mention that the Swedes were there to protect US interests (which, presumably, would include protecting Mr Gomes's rights as best they can). I don't think they're in much of a position to let us know how much of a sham this trial with the foregone conclusion was.

See here and here for my more recent takes on the foolish and dangerous antics of Mr Gomes and Mr Park.

Weighing in on the walkabouts of Robert Park and Aijalon Mahli Gomes

The following is a slightly edited version of a comment I left at One Free Korea, addressing this comment by HW:

Many of the people criticizing Robert and Aijalon’s actions are not willing themselves to suffer for the sake of the North Korean people. Is it necessary to suffer? Can’t they just be free without any Christians having to suffer for it? I don’t think so. If more Christians made sacrifices for the gospel to reach North Korea, we wouldn’t have to waste our time arguing about whether or not Robert and Aijalon’s entry will do more harm than good.

This is a common theme from defenders of Robert Park's actions. It seems that such analysis assumes that (a) the walkabouters are doing something that results in good, (b) the walkabouters are not bolstering the regime by their acts, and (c) this is the only way that one can suffer or sacrifice themselves for the North Korean people.

Regarding (a), being ground up and spit out by the propaganda machine such that your comprehensive recantation is publicized and then you have “intense temptations to kill [your]self” is not resulting in good.

Regarding (b), it would seem that the Pyongyang regime is squeezing financial and/or political capital out of these visits. With the Accidentally On Purpose Tourists™ (formerly the Stupogants™, but I’m trying to be nicer these days), we have former President Bill Clinton giving a propaganda coup via a coveted photo-op. With Robert Park, we may have had tacit quid pro quo that Pyongyang would not be put back on the list of state sponsors of terror. Who knows what will have to be given up in order to see Aijalon Mahli Gomes safe back in Boston?

Regarding (c), far more real good can be done by “suffering” in China helping ferry North Korean refugees out of the PRC. I’ve met some of the brave souls doing that, and words cannot describe their bravery in the face of the risks they take. That is something that can be done for those who want to engage in battle against evil forces. Suffer, they will.

Daily Kor for April 8, 2010

The big news is the sentencing of Aijalon Mahli Gomes. His eight-year sentence at hard labor should come as a surprise to no one, and it is not unlike the twelve-year sentence handed down to Euna Lee and Laura Ling, and we all know what happened there. The big difference is the $700,000 fine, which will muck up any smooth effort to get him out.

This should be a lesson to those who think that traipsing into North Korea with messages that Kim Jong-il should step down will somehow erode the power of the regime. They have already ground up Robert Park and spit him out, and they may do the same with Mr Gomes. And who knows what they will do with whatever money they squeeze out of Mr Gomes's supporters. It's time for the organizations that have encouraged Mr Park's and Mr Gomes's walkabouts to renounce and repudiate this tactic.

1. American from Boston who had resided in South Korea sentenced to 8 years in prison and $700K fine by North Korea for illegal entry (links here)
2. South Korean oil tanker seized by Somali pirates near Somali coast (BBC)
• Foreign Ministry says crew is still safe (Yonhap)
3. South Korean sailors aboard doomed Chonan describe mystery blast (BBC, AP via WaPo, WSJ, Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo)
• Divers find second body from Chonan (Yonhap, Joongang Daily)
4. South Korea buys $1 billion to curb rise of KRW (Reuters)
5. Finance Ministry says economy-boosting measures will remain despite strong recovery (Yonhap)
6. Beijing considering allowing convertibility of yuan with Korean won (Yonhap)
7. Japan Self-Defense Forces on high alert after sculpture in Pusan's Taejongdae Park determined to be dagger pointed at heart of Japan (Reuters) 

Aijalon Mahli Gomes sentenced to eight years of hard prison and $700,000 by North Korea

Rather than reinventing the wheel, I'll just direct you to One Free Korea, where Joshua has a great overview of the situation, including the Robert Park connection. But if you're too lazy to click that link or you've got Apple Speech reading this off for you while you're cooking breakfast, here are some of the 5 W's and 1 H from the Washington Post:

An American has been sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined the equivalent of $700,000 for illegal entry into North Korea.

Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, who had taught English in South Korea, is the fourth U.S. citizen in the past year to walk into North Korea from China and get arrested.

Two television journalists received 12-year sentences last June, but were allowed to leave the country after former President Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang. A missionary who entered North Korea on Christmas Day to protest human rights abuses was released in February after what the government described as his "sincere repentance."

Gomes, also a human rights activist, seems likely to be used by North Korea as a bargaining chip, as it negotiates with the United States and four other countries over the resumption of stalled nuclear disarmament talks.

The story is also carried in the New York Times, Reuters, AP, CNN, Yonhap, the Korea Times, the Joongang Daily, and the Chosun Ilbo.

The Washington Post article notes that Mr Gomes "admitted all the facts which had been put under accusation," much like Mr Park did, so I wonder just how effective this strategy of traipsing into North Korea to challenge the immoral leadership really is.

In fact, I've quite clearly stated that it's detrimental, because, like the incident involving Laura Ling and Euna Lee, it may force the US to give up financial or political capital in order to fish out these wayward Americans.

I will add one important thing, and that is that I think Robert Park should be put on a suicide watch. We have already seen from him several cries for help (see also here), and this could very well be the kind of thing that puts him over the edge. If he sees himself as responsible for his friend being in such a dire predicament, he may not be able to forgive himself.

It is my fervent hope and prayer that nothing happens to Mr Gomes up north. I would actually be surprised if they move him out of the Pyongyang Palazzo and into an actual labor camp — Euna Lee and Laura Ling were sentenced to an ever longer sentence, but they were never moved out of Pyongyang — and the North Koreans probably know it is in their best interest to keep Mr Gomes alive.

[Indeed, not long after Bill Richardson fished Evan Hunziker out of North Korea when the latter was captured swimming across the Amnok (Yalu) River, Mr Hunziker committed suicide. It's not unreasonable to speculate that his handlers in Pyongyang recognized the fragile mental state of Mr Hunziker and decided to quickly get rid of him before he might kill himself in their custody, which would have made a horrible mess for them.]

And I do not buy the idea that Mr Gomes is in for harsher treatment because he is Black, as the North Koreans will first-and-foremost see him as an American, which leads to a way out for everyone. An expensive toll on that path, but an exit nonetheless.

Is North Korea threatening tourists to Panmunjom?

That seems to be what Pyongyang is saying. From Reuters:

North Korea warned on Monday of unpredictable disaster unless the South and the United States stop allowing tourists inside a heavily armed border buffer that is one of the most visited spots on the peninsula.

The warming comes as tensions were raised on the peninsula after a South Korean navy ship sank on Friday. Early reports that the North may have been involved spooked markets but were later played down when Seoul said it was almost certain Pyongyang had no part in the incident. [ID:nTOE62P0AP]

North Korea has made no mention of the ship-sinking incident in its official media.

An unnamed army spokesman of the North's Korean People's Army said South Korea was engaged in "deliberate acts to turn the DMZ into theatre of confrontation with the (North) and a site of psychological warfare" by allowing tours inside the border zone.

The story is also carried by Yonhap, the New York Times, Bloomberg, the Chosun Ilbo, the Korea Times, and the Joongang Daily.

This sounds ominous, and Lord knows what they would try to do. Anyone who has taken the tour — and I've done so about half a dozen times — would know that while there is some palpable tension in Panmunjom, the tours are very routine despite some real-life shooting that has occurred in the past.

This makes me wonder if the North is not so much directing this at the sinking of the Chonan as they are addressing the possibility of someone like Robert Park making a scene in one of the few places where people from the South Korean side can cross — briefly and only in a confined space — into North Korea.

Gomes is a friend of Bob (as in Robert Park)

When we first got news last January about Aijalon Mahli Gomes crossing into North Korea, this is what I wrote:

I just hope this isn't one of Robert Park's fellow travelers thinking they can change the regime with their arms stretched out in love. All they're doing is making things worse for people who might need the paths they're using as escape routes.

Well, it turns out I was right. From AFP:

Gomes, an English teacher in South Korea, apparently crossed the border from China on January 25, one month after missionary Robert Park did the same.

Gomes met Park last November, said Jo, a Seoul-based associate of Park and member of a group called Pax Koreana.

"I believe he may have gone to North Korea after being inspired by Park," Jo told AFP.
Jo said Gomes attended rallies in the South on December 30 and January 12 calling for freedom for North Koreans.

"I have a picture showing him praying and weeping at that time. I remember he was a quiet but devout Christian who was very interested in the rights of North Koreans."

Jo said that while Gomes had not mentioned any plans to go to the North, "I believe his firm faith as a Christian prompted him to make a dangerous journey to North Korea as Park did."

Please, people, while your willingness to risk your life to help others may seem admirable, it loses its value and even becomes detrimental if you are putting others at risk and/or helping the very regime in Pyongyang you hate so much. What political or financial capital was required to release Robert Park? Who suffered by him traipsing into the North? And what similar outcome can we expect from Gomes's odyssey?

It's time for Pax Koreana to disavow such behavior.

UPDATE:
Joshua at One Free Korea has more on Mr Gomes and his apparent motivations.

Pyongyang to put American on trial for illegal entry into North Korea

For visitors to the Great Fright North, there's just no pleasing the DPRK regime. If you're a South Korean tourist taking a pre-dawn stroll, you get shot. If you're just popping in for a few seconds to pick up souvenir rocks, you get a twelve-year jail sentence and a former president has to fish you out. If you walk in and demand that the head of North Korea step down, they throw you in jail and torture you with women groping you.

And even if you've decided that North Korea is some great paradise, and your own country sucks because they might send you to fight in Iraq, and instead you'd like to work for the Nork army, etc., etc., then the regime in Pyongyang still doesn't want you. In fact, one such Bostonian is finding out that they might just bounce your arse into a kangaroo court, which will put you on trial for illegal entry.

From Reuters:

North Korea said on Monday it will put a 30-year-old U.S. man on trial for illegally entering the country.

The man is likely the U.S. citizen the North has held since January after he supposedly entered the reclusive state from China, South Korean government officials told local media.

The North identified the man as Aijalon Mahli Gomes, adding he was from Boston. His "crime has been confirmed," its official KCNA news agency said without elaborating.

North Korea has used detained American citizens as bargaining chips with the United States and the trial announcement comes as Washington has been putting pressure on Pyongyang to end its year-long boycott of nuclear disarmament-for-aid talks.

In previous cases, the North has typically released Americans a few months after their capture.

Earlier this month, North Korea allowed diplomats from Sweden, which represents U.S. interests in the state with which Washington does not have formal diplomatic ties, to visit the U.S. citizen detained since the start of the year.

The United States has provided few details about the case.

South Korean news reports have said the border-crosser entered the socialist North because he no longer wanted to live in the capitalist world.

If only he'd waited until yesterday, he could have had socialism right in the USA. I kid! I kid!

[above: First Cousin It, and now Gomes. My prediction is that Uncle Fester will be the next to visit the Workers' Paradise.]

Anyway, on the off chance that North Korea was making this case up or they got the guy's name horribly, horribly wrong (The tip-off for that idea? The guy's name is Aijalon Mahli Gomes!), I went to the Boston Globe to see if they knew anything about the defector with the colorfully diverse name. They did, sort of:

A Boston man detained in North Korea is about to stand trial for illegally entering the country from China.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch Monday that it has decided to indict Aijalon Mahli Gomes.

The dispatch says the man was born in 1979 and resided in Boston before coming to Asia and being detained.

Gomes' family did not want to talk about the incident, but a family spokesperson said everyone is praying for Gomes and they are looking forward to his return home.

The boston.com story (actually from local CBS affiliate WBZ) sounds vaguely like they had no idea who this guy was until the North Koreans said his name, and that makes me wonder about the legitimacy of some of the details here. I mean, even if the Gomes family was quietly praying for their son's safety, wouldn't the media have been informed with more information about who he was, say, two months ago?

Anyway, for Americans the take-home message from all this is the following: Don't go to North Korea, not even to defect. Whether you're Euna Lee and Laura Ling, Robert Park, or now Mr Gomes, you will become a bargaining chip, costing the US hard currency or political capital. Just say No go! to NoKo.

UPDATE: 
I have been trying, with no luck, to find pictures of the actual Mr Gomes, but GI Korea at ROK Drop has some links that indicate he may have been a teacher up in Uijongbu. If that's not an assignment that will drive you crazy...

Some of the commenters at ROK Drop claim to have known him, saying he worked for an elementary school in the area and he was quite religious, even a friend of Robert Park.

If that's true, then what’s up with Mr Gomes reportedly saying then that he wants to work for the North Korean army? I guess that would have to either be a lie on the KCNA’s part back in January (certainly not a stretch of the imagination), but it could be a ruse on his part, which could explain why he’s now on trial. In fact, I'm more inclined toward the latter explanation at this point, knowing how KCNA propaganda works best when it's closest to the facts.

Just say no to letting Robert Park go to the DMZ

Anybody who reads One Free Korea (here, here, here, and here) knows I'm no fan of Robert Park's antics. It was foolish of him to traipse into North Korea, and it may have even endangered the lives of people he purports to be helping, not to mention that the US may have lost political and/or financial capital by securing his release.

Robert Park ended up in a mental hospital in Long Beach — he's got some personal issues that need to be taken care of — but a judge released him. Reporters asked him what he would do next, but instead of saying he was going to Disneyland, he gave them indication he is headed for South Korea and will journey to the DMZ:

Friends and family of Park are concerned after he apparently professed a desire to return to South Korea and take action at the DMZ, according to an e-mail from Suzanne Scholte, the chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC), sent to Jo Sung-rae, a friend and fellow activist of Park's.

"I am writing this email to specifically ask you that if he should arrive in Korea that you provide him with 24-hour prayer and personal protection," reads the e-mail that was forwarded to The Korea Times by another activist. "He spoke frequently while in Washington D.C. about wanting to take his own life and do something drastic at the DMZ."

In the e-mail, Scholte, who had been helping prepare a press conference for Park, said, "It became very clear to all of us that Robert was still suffering from the effects of the torture he experienced in North Korea...Because of our love for him, we should do all we can to shelter and protect him and make it possible for him to be cared for so that he could recover from all that he has been through."

Holy effin' crap! This is a recipe for disaster. The man has marched into North Korea once already and one has every reason to expect he would try to do that again. The guy has no concern for his own safety and the safety of others, and the DMZ puts you in North Korean territory. And unlike Disneyland, there's no turnstile... you just keep walking.

And I seriously suspect that's what he will try to do. But the problem is that the DMZ is the kind of place where people get killed when someone tries to cross over from one side to the other without permission.

This guy is a loose cannon that is demonstrating that he is a danger to himself and others, and I suspect that he was like that before the North Koreans got hold of him. Instead of egging him on and calling him a hero for his actions, recognize that he needs to be reined in and possibly kept under surveillance in a place where he can't hurt himself.

Sheesh.