This news is so very, very sad and, with complicated political implications. One can only have sincere sympathy for his family.
He made a juvenile mistake that in most communities/countries would have resulted in a scary interaction with authorities, then a fine and then a story he could tell later about what a dumb ass he was. Most of us have a few of those stories to tell.
I am a proud progressive on most issues but there is no place for repressive regimes like North Korea. Unless the NK military joins with the oppressed people to overthrow this medieval regime I am afraid that Kim and his cohorts are sowing the seeds that will lead to their own destruction. I hope there can be some kind of peace for Otto Warmbier and his family.
Iām a loving progressive, but the only way to travel to North Korea is one-way on the back of a nuke, a la Dr. Strangelove.
Itās truly a pity that our friends in Seoul are so near that we canāt risk their lives to just wipe out that scum.
If he even did. The ābeautyā of dictatorships is that you canāt believe anything, most especially a āconfessionā. Yes, he may have done something, but itās also as likely that he didnāt do anything, and merely happened to be at the wrong place and American.
This outcome is, of course, tragic and only confirms what we already knew, which is that North Korea is run by a brutal totalitarian dictator - who had his own uncle and half-brother horrifically murderd. I just canāt understand how the parents could have shown such irresponsibility as to give their son approval (which I heard the father state that they had) to make such a deathly risky trip. After all, the U.S. is still at a technical state of war with N.K., and has been since the early 1950ās. Plus, the batshit crazy has long run deep in the Kim Jong lineage.
This kid was probably stronger than anyone he dealt with in NKā¦certainly the childish Kim. Thereās a ton of good stuff on NKā¦it should be read. The previous NK doctors had the persona to fool their people and intimidate the rest of NK leadership. Including military leaders. Kim the Kid does not. many folks that have spent a life studying NK and itās politics are convinced the Boy King Kim is that last of his line. NK could be a much better place but to stay as it is it must keep itās people ignorant and afraid. They have perfected isolation techniques but theyāre up against new forms of information flow they canāt hope to keep up with. Kimās groomers know this. Itās over in our lifetime.
I am dumbfounded that anyone would wish to travel to NK. Or go hiking on the border for Iran. People do it though.
Well, the people weād be nuking are just as much a victim of the NK regime as Otto Warmbier was, so I donāt know if that would accomplish much. And are we all that much better in certain ways? Screenshot from the current TPM frontage:
i heard that he and his group were warned not to go. Would this be by the state department?
North Korea killed Otto Warmbier with probable 17 months of continuous sleep deprivation torture.
And yet we (the US) honor President Duterte of the the Philippines, who is responsible for the extrajudicial killing of thousands of āsuspectedā drug dealers and street children. One evil does not excuse another. A little moral consistency would be good here.