One other thing to consider is that due to the recent corruption scandal involving Park Geun-hye which resulted in her ouster as President by SK Supreme Court ruling and the consequent serious discredit it brought upon the conservative hawkish anti-NK party, there’s the added complication that the current mood in S Korea and the current administration are moving to a much less hawkish line vis a vis NK.
In short, if the US wants to do more than it has already done, it’s likely to meet up with some opposition from the current S Korean administration and moreso…its people.
Especially considering if there’s any ramping up of military tensions or worse, war…they are going to be most affected by virtue of their being right next to NK. Especially the younger generations who are most likely to be called up/recalled into the military for potential combat service.
Not separated by the wide Pacific Ocean as the US.
I’m very glad more people have become aware of the totalitarian NK regime through this situation. It’s difficult to imagine what the US and our Asian allies might do to NK that hasn’t already been tried. As Romani said, it’s above my pay grade, but I have confidence that our country and its allies have for years and are still considering numerous options.
I just watched a Chuck Todd piece on MSNBC and he discussed with guests (all high level) if there was any way to hold N Korea responsible. All agreed they couldn’t think of anything. We already have no relationship with N Korea, we already warn against travel. There just isn’t anything to do to punish them.
@romanigypsyeyes Locally the news is reporting that the family declined an autopsy, that the coroner then did an external examination, and that external examination didn’t show anything.
^^sorry…don’t know why the link is not working…the Atlantic article with that address is titled “How to Deal with North Korea” … explains in some detail how there are four major strategic options, but all carry great risks…
I’m sorry there will be no autopsy, but I guess it really doesn’t matter much in the big picture. North Korea is responsible for what happened to him.
By the way, I keep seeing (not here, really, but in comments elsewhere) people saying that he shouldn’t have stolen a poster. I feel the need to again point out that there is no evidence that he did this that would be enough to convict him in a US court, and plenty of reason to suspect that the whole situation was concocted by the North Koreans. And now we’ll never know what really happened. But again, in the big picture, that doesn’t matter much either.
@Hunt I have only seen folks on this thread indicating that he did not steal the poster. Did his family or anyone else indicate this? I read a few articles recently and when it all happened and never saw any denials yet several on this thread seem to have read it somewhere.
It is somewhat beside the point, even if he did steal a poster, it seems ridiculous that it could carry a term of 15 years…clearly they look for a reason to detain people from the US, which is why there is no way I would go there.
I saw that video and agree it is difficult to tell anything. I have not seen any denials by anyone that would have any knowledge of the situation which would indicate he did do it? Once again, even if he did it is not reasonable to equate it to such a harsh sentence, just surprised everyone is so certain he did not.
Even if he physically removed the poster from the wall, that is not proof that he stole it, or intended to steal it. I think people are unduly influenced by his “confession.”
To put this another way, I see no reason to think that any information conveyed by the North Korean authorities is true.
There is also no reason to think folks on an internet forum have any knowledge of the situation either. Surprised folks are so certain about things they have no idea about.
In this horrible tragedy, the North Koreans acted just like we would expect them too given what we know of them. It was poor Otto that did what we would not expect which is visit this type of country/regime.
North Korea is ruled by a ruthless brutal dictator who is far worse than his father or grandfather. He is a man-child who punishes the slightest hint of disloyalty with brutal executions. Any traveler to North Korea, especially Americans, should not be surprised by brutal and unfair treatment by government officials.
Kim Jong-un makes the rules, creates the evidence, and dictates the punishment.
Poor Otto was used as a pawn in the political standoff between North Korea and the rest of the world.
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