E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSSEOUL -- An American tourist who visited North Korea last month for what was to have been a five-day trip has been detained by police there, associates of his family and activists in Seoul said.
Kenneth Bae, 44, was in a group of five tourists who visited the northeast city of Rajin, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, citing a report by the Kookmin Ilbo newspaper. Bae, who is Korean-American, entered North Korea on Nov. 3.
PhotoBlog: Thousands rally to celebrate North Korea rocket launch
"What we know is that he is a person who wants to help poor children, kotjebis (homeless children), and he took pictures of them to support them later," said Do Hee-youn, a North Korean human rights activist and head of the Citizens' Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees.
'Fluttering swallows'
There are said to be thousands of homeless, starving children in the North after a famine in the 1990s. Kotjebis translates into English as "fluttering swallows."
It was impossible for NBC News to confirm Bae's arrest in one of the world's most secretive states and there has been no formal announcement on North Korean media.
N. Korean progress on nuclear arms, long-range missiles rattle U.S. and allies
The Swedish Embassy in Seoul did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether it was aware of the arrest. Similarly, the press officer at the Swedish Embassy in Beijing declined comment when contacted by NBC News.
Sweden handles the affairs of U.S. citizens in North Korea because Washington does not have diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
Kookmin Ilbo, owned by an evangelical church in Seoul, reported it was expected Bae could be released in two or three weeks. The paper cited an unidentified source and it was not possible to confirm the report.
It cited sources as saying Bae had been arrested for carrying a computer hard disk which contained footage of North Korea executing defectors and dissidents. This was also impossible to verify.
More North Korea coverage from NBC News
History of trouble
U.S. citizens of Korean descent have previously run into trouble in the North. Robert Park, a missionary, was detained after entering the country in late 2009 and says he was tortured for protesting against the country's human rights record.
Earlier that year, former President Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang to secure the release of two American journalists who had entered North Korea illegally.
Aug. 5: It was an emotional reunion for journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee and their families in California Wednesday, after a diplomatic rescue mission by former President Bill Clinton secured their release from North Korea. NBC's George Lewis reports.
The U.S. State Department declined to comment on the reports.
ANALYSIS: 'Spoiled child' North Korea snubs key ally China with rocket test
"I don't have anything for you on that one way or the other, for privacy reasons," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing.
A pastor at a Korean church in Washington state, who said Bae's mother attended services there, said the mother, Myung Bae, had prayed for her son's release Wednesday morning after learning of his detention from news reports.
"She just learned that he had been detained," pastor Chan Song of the Korean Emmanuel Church in the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood told Reuters. "She's scared. ... She doesn't know how he was detained."
North Korea: We found a unicorn lair
Bae's mother has attended a morning prayer group at the church for several years, the pastor said, but her son was not a member of the church. Efforts to contact the mother at her Washington state home were unsuccessful.
The office of state Senator Paull Shin, a Korean-American whose district includes parts of Lynnwood, was trying to find out more but was not in contact with the family, legislative assistant Jeff King told Reuters.
On Wednesday, North Korea sparked calls for sanctions from Washington and others when it fired a long-range rocket that put a satellite into space.
Critics say the North is breaching U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit it from activities linked to nuclear development or missile technology.
China has offered a rare criticism of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, after the country fired a long-range rocket that has been described by U.S. officials as a weapons test. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
NBC News' Ed Flanagan in Beijing and Reuters contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
- ANALYSIS: Egypt's military keeps close eye on politics
- EXCLUSIVE: Susan Rice drops out of running for secretary of state
- North Korean progress on nuclear arms, long-range missiles rattle U.S. and allies
- 'Who is my Mandela?' South Africans consider icon's place in a changing world
- Google+ Hangout from Egypt with NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin
- Royal prank call: Duped nurse was found hanging, also had wrist injuries
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
It's so curious to me that Sweden has an embassy there. Who would've thought? I only mean that the U.S. seems to exact its presence everywhere like a dog to a fire hydrant and this time our scent isn't there.
Annie-322924.....please learn the language before posting.
Shows what happens when you stick your finger into a hornets nest...you get stung.
There are plenty of starving children in places a lot safer (and more grateful) than NK for kindhearted people to go help and since the whole world can't be helped, why not go to a saner, safer place?
Perhaps because Sweden isn't technically at war with North Korea. There has been no peace treaty between the combatants in the Korean War of the 1950's, just an armistice.
That's because WE were never technically at war with them, either.
Stay in school. Learn your history.
:-) I was just having a related discussion on another board about this. You can travel to North Korea (assuming they approve your visa and you actually had some compelling reason to visit that crummy place), but you can't go to Cuba.
Forget Sweden: What in the world were these fools thinking going to the most secretive, anti US country in the world. As a tourist.
I mean, what do you go to see? A staving, oppressed people!
Good Grief!
I feel that anyone going to N. Korea is taking great chances. You rolled the dice and lost.
Who cares about technicality when the shooting starts, it was called The Korean War.
Annie-322924 -
You're the only dog here, and we can smell you from miles away. GO back to NKR where you belong.
There are places Americans shouldn't go; North Korea, Taliban camps, Iran and every place that if you read on the news their country post we will kill all Americans on site.
Now Cuba, I would go to in a heart beat but we can't. Too bad they don't have oil or else it would be our best friend.
My travel agency has a this new travel package called the "In Harms Way Experience." I'm thinking of signing up for since I don't have enough issues and excitement in my life. The tour starts in in Iran 2 days 1 night, flys to Damascus for a 1 day tour of the front lines and the chemical munitions storage facility, flight to Cario for 1 day and night tour of "Americans in Tahrir Square Protest", then we board a ship for a cruise through the Red Sea to Somalia for a 1 day tour of the "Hostages Held Experience." After that we travel by camel across Africa in the "Africa in Turmoil Tour" that takes us from Somalia through Sudan across Chad into Northern Mali where we get to experience being held as a hostage by Al Qaeda in Africa where our $1,000,000 pre-paid bond to our travel agency is use for our release. We then board a plane to Mozambique to "hunt" with the poachers of elephant tusks and accompany the tusks to North Korea to see all of the tourist sites. You know them, the staving kids to the brain-wash indoctrinated well fed military.
Crimmey, when are people going to start engaging that grey matter between their ears?
Annie, the Swedish embassy is in Seoul, not in North Korea.
Missoulasue
From Sweden's websight... Just the facts.
Julie-401527
Love it, sarcasm at it's best, but you missed the stops in Baghdad, the mountains of Afghanistan/Pakistan, and the opportunity to wear a Cross and a T shirt with the Star of David while participating in the Hajj.
I hear the valleys of Afghanistan are lovely this time of year.
"Too bad they don't have oil or else it would be our best friend."
They have as much as the Middle East. Gulf oil isn't one puddle off Louisiana.
FYI, Americans can go to Cuba. Only a complete idiot would compare Cuba to N Korea, it's actually a top travel destination for other countries. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cuba
We are restricted from spending money there, but that is an imposition by the the US government, not Cuba. And the assumption is if your passport has a Cuban stamp, you spent money there. But again, the penalties are levied by the US government, not Cuba.
If got the coin, you can get a special license from Department of Treasury to spend money there. The catch is you have to pay a guide to travel with you. National Geographic offers these tours for around $6000 for 9 days.
http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/cuba-cultural-tour/detail
Also, if you are of Cuban descent you can travel there.
Antistupidity,
Well, with that $1,000,000 pre-paid bond for the "In Harms Way Experience" I couldn't afford the "In Harms Way Experience, Extended Version." :-)
wow what a thread:
- Sweden has a Embassy in N Korea and in just about every country in the world as they are the worlds mediators....
- for a long time, Americans admirably but without regard to personal safety have taken up humanitarian effort in the most dangerous places in the world.... sometimes they are looking to get journalistic credibility and book sales... .sometimes they slave away for no recognition.... sometimes they are hazardous travel junkies
- yes there are hazardous travel groups and agencies... so the very good jokes above notwithstanding .... you can actually do it if you wish... I've seen tours like hiking northern Iran, mountain biking the Hindu Kush (Hindu Killer) Mountain Range in Afghanistan etc,
- Cuba is no problem for an american to go to, just via the Bahamas or Cayman... and don't get your passport stamped....
- Cuba is no N Korea, but it still sucks.... looks like that is changing slowly though....
- the weather in the Helmand Valley, Afghanistan right now is not nice.... it sucks... high today is 5F
You can go to North Korea as a tourist? Why would you go to North Korea as a tourist? That's like hiking in Iraq along the border with Iran.
Scott - and I love that americans think that Cuba sucks so bad because they are communist, and not because the wealthiest nations - namely the US - have blackballed them on the financial list.
Imagine how wealthy cuba would be if americans could not only go there, but freely spend their money there?
Then the average idiot couldnt exclaim how horrible communism to a nation.
Im not saying communism is great, im saying that when you blacklist a nation like the western world has done to Cuba, it's pretty hard to stay afloat financially and compete.
double post :-(
Well maybe for next years vacation :P
Another fine example of an NBC headline. "American tourist detained in North Korea" For the record, North Korea is not a tourist destination!
Documenting poor starving children appears to be dangerous in the North Korea. It is on the no travel list. http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html Cuba is not.
Annie-322924: Good grief Annie, what in the world are you trying to say????
Only that it surprises me that Sweden has an embassy in North Korea and we don't. It seems we always have an embassy everywhere, in every country, around every corner. We're the cops of the world. I'm just surprised, nothing more. It's a nice surprise, actually.
The US does not have embassies in nations where we have no diplomatic relations. Taiwan is our friend, but since it is not recognized as an independent nation and thus has no US embassy. Cuba... and other places also have no embassy.
"It's so curious to me that Sweden has an embassy there"
Did it surprise you to know Sweden had fortified hidden gun bunkers in the mountains, small villages etc. during WWII ? Kind of like they stand on the middle of the fence, and deal from the bottom with an Ace in the cuff. They aren't your enemy, but will always be in the right place to profit.
Annie-322924.....The US does not have Diplomatic Relations with countries we are at war with, that's the way it works. No Peace Treaty has been signed, only an armistice which is threatened every day. We still have many American troops deployed along the 38th parallel.
Yup, and during the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries, they used to sail around wearing those funny, horned hats, and talking about Oden and Thor.
Definitely people you cannot trust.
BTW: What has this to do with Sweden having an embassy in North Korea, or with the detention of tourists in that benighted country?
Annie, do you even know what an embassy is?
Judging from your "cops of the world comment" and being glad we don't have one there, methinks you don't.
hiap - Why be so rude to someone who admittedly didn't know we had no N. Korean embassy. The "cops of the world" remark is not unjustified, either. How many people do I see here commenting that the US should take it's troops there or there, or bomb somebody. Right now we are sending military and weapons into Turkey so we can keep the Syrian conflict out of Turkey. That is why Annie makes remarks like "cops of the world". You may not agree with the remark but you are welcome to refute it with a coherent argument.
700+ Military bases NOT on US soil around the world...you may not like it but AMERICA IS THE COP OF THE WORLD.
It is called the INDUSTRIAL MILITARY COMPLEX. it is NOT to be confused with TEAM AMERICA, WORLD POLICE. But it might as well be... Bak-alaka Jihad! Dirka Dirka!
You want to believe that because we have military bases around the world, many of them left over from conflicts like WWII, that makes the US the world's police, good for you.
What does having or not having an embassy have to do with any of that?
Annie and all,
There are a few places we don't have relations with. Tehran for one, the embassy was closed there in 1979 after the Shah was deposed, when the Ayatollahs "detained" the embassy staff and it has never been reopened.
We have just recently opened embassies in a few countries we have re-established relations with. Libya was one...we re-established relations with them in 2006 under George Bush. They have had an embassy here in the US, but we didn't have one there because they were on the Terrorism Sponsorship list. As is Iran, the Iraq consulates were closed prior to our invasion, but have been reopened.
Explain to me what they are for then??? America's protection and safety?
Feel free to indulge me... they are their to make America Money and control resources through out the world all under the guise of false freedom... security is NOT freedom.
But please go ahead and explain to me why America has 700+ military installations outside the United States? Feel free to start with the spread of democracy...I would be happy to debate that.
Oh and yes let's start with EMBASSIES... Military bases and embassies are lock stepped brothers.
One last thing, those "many bases left over from world war II" comment... feel free to also indulge me in why we need military bases of that magnitude 65 years after it ended?????
We don't need them but if we eliminate them you will hear the GOP crying that we are not safe anymore. The budget of the defense department needs a serious haircut.
K. Bae obviously had an agenda when he went there. He shouldn't have. I am sure we will find out that he was on some "mission" of his own and being stupid to go there. You get what you ask for.
K. Bae obviously had an agenda when he went there. He shouldn't have. I am sure we will find out that he was on some "mission" of his own and being stupid to go there. You get what you ask for.
Well at least an American seal team member may not have to worry about losing his life in a rescue mission for this idiot. No sympathy here for people who choose, by free will, to enter countries they should never had stepped foot in. You go and wind up in prison or kidnapped, please tell your family members not to whine to our government. It's not their job to get you back.
ddw1946
geez does that mean they want them and don't want to pay for them or keep them safe?? make up your mind oh wise and liberal one. Seems there was a pissing match over the cutting of funds for Libya embassy and the GOP was at fault for that. I guess you should drink more koolaid and settle down.
It's courageous to enter this country for the children. When you do your putting other lives
in jeopardy. The santions are tough because they need to be and children starving should account for justification to your actions. Hope this turns out well which I’m sensing it should, but next
time work with the people who can truly make a difference. I would say like the
Government of North Korea, you’re Government, the United States and the U.N.. Your church may not have the influence you need to achieve your goals.
Sorry, but I don't have any sympathy for him. They hate Americans there and you will be a pawn in their game. You go there, then you're asking for it. Didn't Bill Clinton have to go there to save another American last year? I appreciate his mission and caring for others, but there are starving kids in America. North Korea has been that way for decades and the world allows it. If Obama, Hillary, and the others don't care, then what can you do?
You want to save a starving kid....Save an American kid. Charity begins at home.
Paws93
I agree.
Against the rules of travel in N.K. When your in someone elses home, you follow their rules.
Time and again foreigners are used as pawns. Here we are less than a week after N.K. launches a missle over Japan and shoots a satellite into space to the outcry of several nations including the US.
People Stay the Hell out of North Korea!
There is no reason to avoid North Korea as long as you follow the rules. That means no pictures without your guide's permission. I have been to North Korea (and a few other "pariah" countries). I followed the rules and had an enjoyable visit.
I'm with Paws. If you choose to go to North Korea, you're on your own. You knew the risks. The US shouldn't expend resources in this case.
TIDubai,
Mr Bae was unlucky in that; a. he is of Korean decent and b. he is American. He was noticed due to his heritage and probably watched. Chances are they would have detained him whether he "broke the rules" or not.
I seem to recall that when I went, people of Korean heritage were not admitted (could have been a policy of the tour operator). There were no Koreans on my tour.
Paws the Man is Korean...he wanted to help KOREAN CHILDREN Get It ???
The Dough Boy Unny appears to have eaten all of the food. No wonder there are so many starving children.
The elephant in the room is that this country will eventually do something very, very stupid. What do you suppose the long range missile tests are a precursor to? It's inevitable that this country will need to be obliterated eventually.
Do they still dig up their dead to eat them? I know they were doing that for a while, but I thought they might have actually got beyond that. Of course, the money spent on the rocket program is more important than feeding the starving, but it doesn't look like their prez as any issues with starving. Oh well, just another day in North Korea.
I can't have any sympathy for people who are stupid enough to travel to countries like North Korea. That is about as stupid as going to Iran and trying to pass out Bibles. People should really learn to think these days before acting.
Nothing stupid about going to NK as long as you follow the rules. Same with Iran. I have been to both countries and had a great time. I liked Iran so much that I went back for a second visit. Of course I was not passing out Bibles.
Perhaps it depends on what is motivating you to travel to a particular country. The NK dictatorship is pretty thin-skinned when it comes to any criticism, so a tourist, especially one of Korean descent, there to imply that children might need help, could possibly rub some goon the wrong way. Like m-612920 said, if you're going to Iran to hand out bibles, you're going to come to the attention of someone unsavory. Same goes for N. Korea.
Perhaps the government of N. Korea is taking a cue from the government of "the land of the free", where people are now also detained extra judicially.
Care to site an example or are you just blowing smoke? This country gives lawbreakers more leniency and breaks than anywhere else in this world.
If you're going to make a statement, at least have the cahones to back it up.
I do not understand WHY people from this country, the U.S.A., are so arrogant as to think they can go anywhere regardless of the local opinion of the U. S. A.
I guess it really is true-----you can't fix stupid.
I have been to Iran, North Korea, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon and other countries. I had a great time in all of them... especially Sudan and Iran.
The only place I ever ran into anti-Americanism was when I was kicked out of an internet cafe in New Zealand and told by the owner "You're American? Get the F*** out of my shop and go find yourself some Iraqi prisoners to torture."
I find that hard to believe. Sorry, but I have been to New Zealand NUMEROUS times and have NEVER experienced any such treatment in ANY establishment. I have probably been to the very same Internet Cafe
This was in 2004 in Rotarua a few blocks north of Pukuatua street near downtown. I was living in New Zealand at the time. I don't remember the name of the cafe, but it was on the west side of the a N/S street and the owner's name was David. Not a very friendly guy. I walked a few blocks to the city offices to file a formal complaint... which went nowhere... I received a letter saying that because I was not a New Zealand citizen, they could not take any action regarding discrimination.
TiDubai, I have been to New Zealand and have never had an issue. The people treated me with respect. I entered internet cafes and never got booted, maybe it was just your attitude. I mean after all you are copying and pasting how your trips to he hells of this world was so great at each post.
Hi TiDubai, BTW I was kicked out of a bar in Cairns, Australia, the International Bar, also. I also got kicked out of a bar in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, for being an American. It happens.
?
?
Just send in a seal team and get him out or just spy swap meaning His cover was blown.
Almost certainly not a spy. This guy sounds like the typical do-gooder who has delusions about his ability to make a bad situation better. He thought he could go to NK and help starving children, or to show the people how bad their government is so that they would demand changes, or to spread The Word (figuring that Jeebus would protect him). People like this may have noble motives, but they're invariably a bit simple.
Jesus is protecting him. He's forgiven.
"Jeebus' and the American Constitution, as well as the Bill of Rights. Americans' are a stupid lot when it comes to international travel. We're not called 'the Ugly Americans' for no reason. There are far too many who don't get that once you leave the U.S., your 'rights' don't follow you into a foreign nation. That our country is not obliged to 'help' you, when you are stupid enough not to follow the laws of those nations.
North Korea is one of the most dangerous placed on Earth, especially if you're a foreigner in it. If this guy didn't bother to investigate what would happen to him when he went there, too bad. I didn't like Clinton getting involved with those two 'reporters' (who certainly knew better)...this guy ought to pay for his own idiocy. Maybe it will be a lesson to others who think they can behave the same...
A fat lot of good that's going to do him.
Let him sit. Don't risk my son's life because he can't follow the rule.s
If your son does not want to help then Bae is braver than your son. He knew the risk but wanted to help the poor and starving instead of going somewhere safer.
My son is a Green Beret and would do what ever he is ordered to do, including rescuing people who don't understand rules and politics. There are lots of needy kids everywhere especially in the US. If you think this guy is braver than my son, you have never put your life on the line for anything.
And after he leaves, the children will be well fed for the rest of their lives? Never place America's best in harms way to fix stupidity and ignorance. Middle, you lead the way.
AnotherMiddleClass,
And what exactly did he do? Unless he cut off an arm and roasted it feed the starving kids, there is nothing he could do. There is nothing ANYONE can do for North Korea, it's a lost cause until their leaders change their ways.
Annie, read the story a little better next time. The Embassy is in Seoul. At last check Seoul was still in South Korea. Having diplomatic relations with a country is far different than having an Embassy there.
Once again NBC is taking license with the truth. The two journalists that Clinton was able to illicit release of were kidnapped from the Chineese border by an armed North Korean security gangster and escorted across the border into North Korea, into custody. Get your facts right. The same thing happened to the hikers in Iran. The best thing to do to stay safe is never go anywhere where your rights to carry personal protection will be violated; China, Iraq, or Illinois.
That's what Clinton did to Monica. Even got some on her dress.
I think elicit is the word you're after.
I hope you enjoy your next vacation, in Somalia. In most of the civilized world, you'll have to leave your little popgun back in the States, and deal with the "scawy, scawy world" without it.
He is very brave and a hero to go there and help starving children. He knows the danger but wants to help the poor and starving. Getting arrested helps bring attention. But he also may never see America again. It is sad and heartless some say he deserves what he got.
He chose to martyr himself. By virtue of that choice, he should not expect the cavalry to come to his rescue.
He is wrong if he attempts to deliberately endanger others (rescue groups) so he can be freed. That is selfish.
Mother Teresa managed to do this sort of thing just fine for decades without expecting her government to mount a rescue mission.
snoor - being brave and being smart about it is two different things. You roll in there guess what - how is he going to help now that he is the one who needs help-?
You seem to be a brave lad so go get him.
I hope we all know that eternal life is way more important than being an American. I'm begining to doubt that one can do both. Americanizing salvation is a slippery slope. As for North Korea, they are nothing but a cheap gang. Their people will inherit the earth and their leadership is in real trouble.
Now that's some gen-you-wine gibberish. You should bottle that balloon juice.
He was pretty stupid to go there in the first place - not exactly a vacation hotspot in my mind, like maybe Puerto Rico, the Keys, Aruba, hell even Italy. Lots of places where you can do good, avoid the dangerous ones is my philosophy.
Stupid is the word I would use. Next, he should go to Iran with a "Mohammed sucks" tshirt. I don't understand these "humanitarians". There is a lot of misery in this world, choose a place that won't get you arrested.
Next a lovely weekend in Iran followed by an overnight frolic is downtown Aleppo(Syria).
Genius!
LOL you are absolutely correct! Genius indeed! And after that, how about a nice vacation in Mexico City?! Or better yet, in Syria?! How about the Gaza Strip?! Where do people get these crazy ideas that they can "help" heal the world's problems? Now what, shall we have a war there to get him back? Why bother. Just leave him there.
This was a terrible idea. There are hungry children in the United States that need to be fed.
North Korea is not a tourist destination. It's wrong of people to go into a totalitarian police state, get arrested, and then expect the United States to come and get them out.
it would be one thing if he was kidnapped in South Korea, but this sort of thing is just plain wrong to expect help with.
I will never understand why people will willingly go to places as "tourists" where they are neither wanted and are very dangerous places. How stupid is that.
Why in the world would this man EVER go there????? Why wouldn't he stay in America and feed our homeless and starving? I know he is a Korean-American but honestly...... Really? You should not have gone. Good luck
Anyone here claiming they have seen "starving" people in America, cannot have ever been to a third world country and seen actual poverty. Sure there are people who hit hard times and need a helping hand to get their meals, but no one in America is "starving." In most third world nations the impoverished don't hit "hard times," and there is no "helping hand," they are just malnourished and starved for proper food from birth.
Agree 100%. I've been to D.R. Congo and Sudan. Americans have no idea what poor is.
I don't think either of you have been EVERYWHERE in America so I honestly don't think you know what you're talking about. If you HAVE been everywhere in America, well then..... MY BAD!
Brooke, I didn't say no one in America is in need, but no one is living in the type of conditions that the over 1 billion people who live on around $1 a day live in, not by a long shot. And if they are it is of their own choice or negligence. Just the simple fact that people living in America have access to clean running water publically puts even the poorest among us much further ahead of many other parts in the world.
It is a simple fact, poverty in America, as defined by federal guidelines, is laughably overstated. Out of American's living under the poverty line, only 7.4% report not always having enough food to eat, and an even smaller 1.5% report often not having enough food (per the 2010 US census). I am not suggesting those people are not worth helping, but with the wide availability of food kitchens, and public assistance programs, they are being helped. To try and compare that small amount which can get help, to the billion people who have no chance to rise above poverty in SE Asia or Africa, and claim not a dime should be spent publically or privately as long as "one person is hungry" in America, seems wrong to me. The government has spent many trillions at home to help those here, not to mention private donations of time, food, and money, and yet the poor will always be with us, whether by drug addiction, temporary hardship, mental illness, ect. A much smaller amount can go so much further outside of the US.
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/what-is-poverty
We, as a nation, must cut off N Korea's supply of Americans. If you feel you must go to N Korea., then by all means go but do not expect any extraordinary efforts to get you out. You should be prepared to remain a guest of N Korea for the rest of your life.
In fact, if you do get out, you should be fined for any government costs that have been incurred on your behalf.
Not again! If your an activist North Korea knows this and you most likely will be arrested and incarcerated. Knowing this don't go to N. Korea. It serves no purpose other then people have to go to great lengths to get you out or rescue you. You should do this south of the border if need be. Everyone knows N.Korea for what they are. The leaders in the North are not going to change by you going there. Hopefully some day it will change, but for now stay out of N.Korea.