North Korea Has Sentenced A Detained American To 15 Years Of Hard Labor

[Turborama]

Source: AP Via Business Insider

North Korea says an American detained for nearly six months has been sentenced to 15 years of "compulsory labor" for crimes against the state.

Pyongyang state media said Thursday that the trial took place Tuesday but provided no other new details in announcing Kenneth Bae's sentencing.

Bae was tried in the Supreme Court on charges of plotting to overthrow the government. He could've faced the death penalty.
The case further complicates already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington following weeks of heightened rhetoric and tensions.

North Korea says Bae was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia. The exact nature of his alleged crimes has not been revealed. Friends describe Bae as a tour operator.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-sentenced-detained-american-to-15-years-2013-5

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Kenneth Bae's Wikipedia article, it's only a "stub" at the moment but is bound to grow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Bae

[Marrah_G]

1. Pretty much a death sentence

[Sand Wind]

2. Now, the concentration camp of Syria are exterminating more people than in NK. nt.

[Marrah_G]

3. The two are apples and oranges.

Just too different to compare.

[Sand Wind]

4. Someone Is an american , the other 100's are syrians. That's right, sorry. Nt.

[Marrah_G]

6. I have no idea what you are even saying.

[tofuandbeer]

23. Reads like a bot reply to me.

[zonkers]

7. Thank you. Non-sequiturs make me so nuts I actually logged in to post. Grrrrrr n/t

[Sand Wind]

9. Brrrr sorry

I really dont want to offuscate you. Really.
I become so used by this war. So tired.

[zonkers]

12. And I am sorry for piling on and think I do "get"

where you are coming from. Peace to you and to all, friend.

[Marrah_G]

13. Before you apologize to quickly.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=thread&address=1014471447&alert=19#post19

[zonkers]

14. That is certainly a lively thread.

[panzerfaust]

24. Statistically that is true - though NK could have imposed the death penalty directly

What his crime was is as unclear as the crimes of many, likely a majority, of those in GITMO. As far as Mr Bae, The Guardian (UK) reports:

"In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it ...His crimes were proved by evidence."

However, unlike those who languish and starve themselves in Oblahblah's prison he: 1) Had a trial and 2) At least knows what the maximum term of his imprisonment will be. Thus, by comparison to North Korea, the United States and Oblahblah look to be committing the greater human rights violations.

Durn sure makes you proud to be 'Merican!

[geek tragedy]

30. Have you considered applying for North Korean citizenship? nt

[snooper2]

36. who is Oblahblah? And are you in 5th or 6th grade yet?

The let you post from school?

[brooklynite]

25. Disagree...

Sounds like using him as a bargaining chip for political demands with SK and the US.

[defacto7]

5. Isn't this the Christian evangelist?

He doesn't deserve this but he did walk into it on his own.

[Marrah_G]

8. Not sure who he is

But anyone walking into that country is risking their lives.

[Incitatus]

11. Here's a bit more information from another article.

..In its latest dispatch KCNA did not state the exact nature of his alleged crimes. South Korean human rights campaigners have speculated that authorities were angered by photographs Bae had reportedly taken of starving children and the public executions of dissenters.....



...Reports have said Bae is a member of the Joseph Connection, a Christian group based in Ohio. North Korea has traditionally taken a dim view of Christian groups because of their well-documented role in helping defectors cross the border into China.....



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/02/kenneth-bae-north-korea-sentences

[davidpdx]

26. I don't know why

But for some reason here in South Korea the Guardian is blocked. They have a version of FISA (or whatever it is called now) that they are trying to pass in the US. It must be that.

[Sand Wind]

10. NK is searching attention,, because they know that if Obama do not react to Syria,

everything possible.

[Marrah_G]

15. This thread is about North Korea

It has absolutely NOTHING to so with Syria.

[Sand Wind]

16. This thread Is about US diplomaty, and you are empty.

[Marrah_G]

17. Your personal insults towards others says volumes about the kind of person you are.

[Sand Wind]

18. We are promp to recognise our allies, If we dont, we are subject to be an actor in a video that

that Democratic Underground will censured because :

Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT and said: Good god. This is real. Get this the fuck OFF here. OMG. And the warning is on the inside. Look, I can take all kinds of stuff. Others would be traumatized for life at that.

[Marrah_G]

19. The types of images you have twice posted are not allowed on DU

And twice now they have been hidden. I'm going to suggest you stop posting them.

[Sand Wind]

20. You are afraid of the reality, I'm sorry for you.

You are living in a dream, and I dont want to scrap your party.

[Marrah_G]

21. I'm done talking to you

I'll leave you to the site admins to deal with in the morning.

[Auntie Bush]

34. Your comment sounds like what the Right are saying.

[awoke_in_2003]

22. Guess Little Kim needs some money or food. nt

[davidpdx]

27. I've seen mixed information about him

Some saying he was prophesying and other's saying he was smuggling out images from North Korea that would provide proof of the prison camps and executions.

Given that several people have been caught there it was not so bright to go.

[joshcryer]

28. Minders definitely would not allow those kinds of pictures.

So those alone are enough to condemn him, imo.

[davidpdx]

29. Yep

I know it sounds cliche, but I believe there is a saying about digging ones own grave.

[Ash_F]

31. That sentence is all about NK lashing out at the US.

It's sad that Mr. Bae is suffering over a conflict that has nothing to do with him.

[Imajika]

32. They want a high level visit..

This is what North Korea does to get an important visitor from the US.

[Sunlei]

33. why? I read he took pictures of the street beggers who crowd around any tourists

[Marrah_G]

37. NK monitors everything visitors do

It's very easy to break a rule and quite frankly many of their rules make no sense.

Personally I think anyone going there is risking their own well being.

[Sunlei]

38. NK would suck as a tourist dest., people want to visit family. NK basicly took another hostage.

[24601]

35. Darn! Just as we were getting ready to book our next family vacation to North Korea. Does anybody

else know of a tour operator? We really are interested in their "all you can eat" cafes that Kim has been frequenting. Think about the poor overweight kid in school that was bullied but now owns a .com fortune 500 company. Now think of what it must be like to be the only fat kid in the country - and have unchecked power.