North Korea claims US soldier crossed over as he was ‘disillusioned by society’
Travis King entered the country while on tour of a border village on 18 July, becoming the first American detained in nearly five years
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Based.
Notice how "detained" is used so frequently here. He, uh, kinda went there of his own volition, according to the same fucking article? Detained. Lol. They'll know when he's "detained" if he unfortunately winds up in the hands of the U.S. military again (after he not only deserted, but committed treason, in their eyes). Here's hoping the DPRK accepts him as a political refugee.
Makes a military job look tempting.
I mean he is detained. Anyone who enters another country without authorization tends to be detained, more so when they are or were recently part of a hostile armed force. He's not free to just wander around. He entered the country illegally, was last part of an occupying force that wants to destroy the DPRK, is legally at war with them for 70 years, and they're likely trying to decide what to do with him, investigate his story, ascertain if he's a spy or there's anything off about him like if he's a threat, etc.
The thing is, what skills does he have to offer them? He probably can't speak the native language (if he can that would make a huge difference in being accepted because he could actually integrate), he's going to have culture shock. He's frankly a risk that if they do accept him, he'll leave anyways after a while because of the quality of life (no iPhone, no Facebook, no holidays or cultural norms like he's used to, language barrier, etc), go back to the US, be coached to spin a story of his torture and the horrors of the place in exchange for a book deal or speaking tour and money and then it will have blown up in the DPRK's face. They consider these things and many others when deciding.
If he's sincere I wish him only the best and hope he can find a great life in the DPRK but there are many barriers to success.
I meant to highlight the overemphasis placed on the word itself, detained. They hype it up as if it's the most monentous part of this incident and use it consistently throughout the article. This is not evil North Korea detaining another poor Amerikan, this is another Amerikan soldier defecting to the DPRK.
I agree, begrudgingly, with your pragmatic outlook here. The transatlantic empire is weak. There is a part of me that believes it is the time to strike, to disobey. The socialist world is turning left, and I believe this may lend itself an opportunity for the DPRK to further demonstrate its status as a sovereign state not beholden to unilateral U.S. demands, as well as its adherence to their purportedly internationalist ethos.
This is all based on the presupposition that Travis King is being genuine, of course.
As for what he offers - at least one noteworthy thing is that he presumably speaks English fluenty. He can always learn Korean. There is a precedent of Amerikan soldiers being granted asylum in the DPRK, and at worst it could be an image thing -- the imperialist dog barks and the socialist world muzzles it.
I do not govern the DPRK, and wager that whatever decision the WPK and thusly the workers decide to make will be the best one that could have been made.
They have touchscreen phones in the DPRK, at least. They're not that far behind. But some are vain and miss shit like name brands, I guess. I do not presume to think this Travis King thinks that way, and if he witnesses equality of peoples in the DPRK then that may yet be inspiring enough for him to get over the culture shock. That'd be neat.
I can see the argument for extradition, but it's only a pyrrhic understanding.
I do not believe socialist nations should extradite black asylum seekers to a white supremacist settler state, personally. May be idealist, but oh well.
I think a country like the DPRK needs to be very cautious in circumstances like this because there is a risk this is a ploy by the US to infiltrate the DPRK or use the situation to score some kind of propaganda "win". Though i would rate the former as rather unlikely since if they wanted to infiltrate the DPRK it would be much easier and much more effective to use South Koreans who aren't as conspicuous and who already speak the language. I agree with the last part for sure though. Under no circumstances should he be extradited to the US or any of their vassals (we saw what happened with Assange in the UK). If the investigation concludes that he is not a spy and his motivation is genuine then imo he should be given a choice whether to stay in the DPRK under some kind of supervision for a few years to make sure that he won't cause trouble and with a guardian to help him integrate, or whether he wants to go to China instead where he will probably have an easier time integrating since more people speak English and the lifestyle is closer to what he is used to.
He could become a propagandist to discourage African Americans from enlisting and get paid by the DPRK to do it. Merely that is in their interests.
All very true, but also all not without precedent, like James Dresnok. Granted, that was before the days of people going on anti-DPRK propaganda book tours, which is a very real risk like you pointed out. He would definitely be under an immense amount of scrutiny, as he should.
There is a chance, depending on how long he was stationed in SK (I didn't find that detail at first blance) that he may have learned at least some nominal Korean while there. I would wager not a lot, given my experience with US military in my own country, but it's a foundation at least.
I do hope that if he is sincere he can live a full life there. I spent some time there, and while I was not planning to live there longterm there are definitely some opportunities for foreigners. It's honestly probably even more comfortable now than the days of the Korean War deserters, there are a lot more modern amenities that westerners may expect. No iPhones, but most people do have smart phones and access to the Kwangmyon intranet, for example. Is that enough for him? I have no idea.