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State Department: North Korea confirms detention of American

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TheDemSocialist

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(CNN) -- North Korea has confirmed to Swedish diplomats that it is holding an American citizen, the U.S. State Department said Friday.The State Department has declined to confirm the identity of the citizen, citing privacy issues. But the family of 85-year-old Merrill Newman of Palo Alto, California, has said he has been detained in North Korea since October 26.
Washington does not have diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, and it has been working through Sweden -- the U.S. protecting power in North Korea -- to obtain information about the American.
"We are working in close coordination with representatives of the Embassy of Sweden to resolve this issue, and they also have requested on a daily basis consular access," State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki told reporters.


Newman, a Korean War veteran and retired financial consultant, was last seen aboard a flight from Pyongyang to Beijing. Just minutes before the plane was to depart, he wasremoved from the flight by North Korean authorities, the family has said.
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Read more @: State Department: North Korea confirms detention of American - CNN.com

C'mon DPRK. He is an 85 year old man who lives in a retirement community. Hopefully they mistook him for someone else, or hopefully they actually do plan on releasing him. I could also see them just taking him because he served in the Korean War. A rare occurrence in the DPRK and i wish his family the best of luck.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Read more @: State Department: North Korea confirms detention of American - CNN.com

C'mon DPRK. He is an 85 year old man who lives in a retirement community. Hopefully they mistook him for someone else, or hopefully they actually do plan on releasing him. I could also see them just taking him because he served in the Korean War. A rare occurrence in the DPRK and i wish his family the best of luck. [/FONT][/COLOR]
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I do not feel sorry for anyone who willingly goes to North Korea or anywhere near North Korea and gets arrested there. We shouldn't do anything to release him. Yeah he is a old man, but at the same time he knew this was North Korea he was going to.He wasn't blindfolded and taken on a surprise trip. It wasn't like he was going to the UK,Canada,Japan or some other civilized country.
 
jamesrage said:
I do not feel sorry for anyone who willingly goes to North Korea or anywhere near North Korea and gets arrested there. We shouldn't do anything to release him. Yeah he is a old man, but at the same time he knew this was North Korea he was going to.He wasn't blindfolded and taken on a surprise trip. It wasn't like he was going to the UK,Canada,Japan or some other civilized country.
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This is a rarity for North Korea.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
This is a rarity for North Korea.
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Abducting people is not a rarity for North Korea.
At least 2 American photojournalists, 17 Japanese citizens, and 486 South Korean citizens.
 
jamesrage said:
Abducting people is not a rarity for North Korea.
At least 2 American photojournalists, 17 Japanese citizens, and 486 South Korean citizens.
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On tours and are American. Yes it is a rarity.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Hopefully they mistook him for someone else, or hopefully they actually do plan on releasing him. I could also see them just taking him because he served in the Korean War. A rare occurrence in the DPRK and i wish his family the best of luck.
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Is that you Dennis Rodman?
 
has a justification for his detention been announced?
 
Kim Jong Un just wants someone to hang with.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
No idea... Little to no info has surfaced.
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just hoping it is something other than his military service in the war that caused this apprehension; something justifiable. otherwise, we will have to rely on dennis rodman to effect his release
 
justabubba said:
just hoping it is something other than his military service in the war that caused this apprehension; something justifiable. otherwise, we will have to rely on dennis rodman to effect his release
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And in that case we are all ****ed.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
This is a rarity for North Korea.
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It may be rare, but he has no rights at all in that country and could be as you say, taken simply for having fought in Korea. It's rather foolish then.
 
chromium said:
It may be rare, but he has no rights at all in that country and could be as you say, taken simply for having fought in Korea. It's rather foolish then.
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I agree they have no right to do this.
 
I agree with Jamesrage. There are some situations you don't want to put yourself in. You don't want to visit Iran...North Korea...Syria to name a few.
 
justabubba said:
has a justification for his detention been announced?
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Knowing North Korea like I do...

They're gonna do something like try to charge him with "war crimes" because he's a korean war veteran.

NK people are taught the west was the aggressor and committed attrcoities against the NK people.

Dem is quite right... This is incredibly rare... But having said that this man was a Korean war veteran, his intentions should have become known to the state department who probably warned him against traveling to North Korea.

So one cannot be too sympathetic with the gentleman.
 
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Jetboogieman said:
Knowing North Korea like I do...

They're gonna do something like try to charge him with "war crimes" because he's a korean war veteran.

NK people are taught the west was the aggressor and committed attrcoities against the NK people.

Dem is quite right... This is incredibly rare... But having said that this man was a Korean war veteran, his intentions should have become known to the state department who probably warned him against traveling to North Korea.

So one cannot be too sympathetic with the gentleman.
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from my limited vantage, it appears he processed all the appropriate documents

and if that is the case, he has my sympathies .... unless it is found he did something really stupid
 
justabubba said:
unless it is found he did something really stupid
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Having said that I cannot be too sympathetic... I definitely feel for what he's about to go through.

I can't imagine even the North Koreans being too hard on him physically given his age.

But chances are they will go after him from a mental perspective... and try to get him to admit to war crimes of some nature, this will be to the benefit of the regime if he does so.

What did he do that was stupid?

Enter North Korea.

Again as Dem said this is incredibly rare especially for a tour group, I almost did it myself, my fascination with North Korea even amazes me sometimes but in his particular case... he is a Korea War Veteran and what he did was incredibly risky by entering the country.
 
Called it:

BBC News - US veteran held in North Korea 'confesses' to crimes

A US citizen detained for more than a month in North Korea has confessed to committing "indelible crimes" against the state, say state media.The official Korean Central News Agency said Merrill Newman had ordered the deaths of North Korean soldiers and civilians in the 1950-53 Korean War.
It published what it described as a "statement of apology" by Mr Newman.
Mr Newman, now 85, did serve during the Korean War but his family say he is the victim of mistaken identity.
Pyongyang's state media has routinely publicised alleged apologies from previous American detainees, which cannot be independently verified, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul.
Authorities have previously been accused of coercing confessions from detainees.
Some observers say Mr Newman's alleged confession could allow North Korea to release him without formal legal proceedings
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So there is some hope for the gentleman.
 
In the apology, Newman describes how he wanted to meet “surviving soldiers and pray for the souls of the dead soldiers” involved in the Korean War. If he met any surviving soldiers, he planned to put them in touch with members of the Kuwol Partisan Comrades-in-Arms Association who had escaped to South Korea, the apology said.

Newman described how he had asked his tour guide to look for families and relatives of the Comrades-in-Arms group, which is described in the apology as “an anti-Communist strategic plot organization.”

An e-mail from Newman to friends in South Korea telling them of his impending trip to North Korea and his hopes of meeting with relatives of the partisan group is embedded in the video of the apology.
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http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/wor...ostile-acts/9KzI2cydai8Q5pgJM8hzsN/story.html

comrades-in-arms activist
appears he brought some of this upon himself
 
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