North Korea – PLSC 359: Global Governance

For years North Korea’s human rights violations have gone unchecked by the United States and the rest of the international community. Kim Jong Un, like his father before him, has let his people starve and forced absolute loyalty by threatening labor camps or death. Furthermore, despite the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and threats from some states, the country continues to test nuclear weapons. The world has stood by and done basically nothing for the past forty years and allowed the people of North Korea to be brainwashed by the regime.

As if all of the aforementioned reasons were not enough for international intervention in the country, North Korea has recently detained two American citizens. The first, Otto Warmbier, was a junior at the nearby University of Virginia who was arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea on March 16th for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster from the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, where he was staying as part of a tourist group arranged by Young Pioneer Tours. In response, President Obama imposed economic sanctions on North Korea, but they still refused to release the student.

The other American citizen currently imprisoned in North Korea is Kim Dong Chul, a South Korean born man who has been an American citizen for ten years. He was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for espionage. The American government has to do something about these unjust arrests and imprisonments, we cannot stand idly by. President Obama or whoever wins the next election should have a strong stance on North Korea and demand our citizens back, or threaten military action.

Nicholas La Branche says:

April 30, 2016 at 11:47 pm

It is truly disturbing to think that two Americans, both likely with bright futures, will most likely spend their foreseeable future’s in North Korean prisons. Although North Korea may be the most corrupt (or at least visibly corrupt) contemporary state it is certainly not alone. North Korea is not the only place where Americans and foreign visitors are vulnerable. In places as close as Mexico it has been widely understood that Americans have been targeted by corrupt Mexican police officers. Furthermore, in places such as Haiti and Burma there is also a long history of Americans drawing the attention of local officials. In these cases, often due to their lack of understanding of domestic law, Americans are arrested by police officers. In these instances Americans face a similar scenario–pay off the cops or be sent to foreign prison.

Nicholas La Branche says:

April 30, 2016 at 11:59 pm

In North Korea the motivation behind the most recent arrests as well as past arrests seems to be of a completely different nature. In North Korea Americans are unable to pay-off police officers like in Mexico or Haiti. Instead it appears that North Korea targets Americans and foreigners seeking political gain. To me this makes the arrests even more repulsive. In cases such as Otto Warmbier, foreigners are arrested for a petty crime and forced to denounce their home countries and beg for forgiveness. (It is horrifying to think that Otto Warmbier was forced to beg for his life over trying to steal a banner which was likely part of a humorless prank.) In these instances the targeted are essentially turned into political puppets and used as leverage for the DPKR. The main point that I am trying to make is that although there are other corrupt states throughout the world where Americans are targeted, what separates North Korea from the rest is their motivation. Please stay away from North Korea, Dan.