Posted on 06/30/2014 4:38:17 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
North Korea said on Monday it would put two U.S. tourists on trial for committing crimes against the state, dimming any hopes among their families that they would soon be released.
"Their hostile acts were confirmed by evidence and their own testimonies," said the North's official KCNA news agency, referring to Jeffrey Fowle and Matthew Miller who are being held by the isolated country. It gave no details on when they would face court.
It was the latest in a flurry of events in the volatile region as Chinese President Xi Jinping visits South Korea this week, and comes a day after Pyongyang fired two short-range ballistic missiles, defying a U.N. ban on such tests.
The visit by the head of state of its closest ally to a country with which the North is still technically at war could raise tensions.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
North Korea said on Monday it would put two U.S. tourists on trial for committing crimes against the state, dimming any hopes among their families that they would soon be released.
“Their hostile acts were confirmed by evidence and their own testimonies,” said the North’s official KCNA news agency, referring to Jeffrey Fowle and Matthew Miller who are being held by the isolated country. It gave no details on when they would face court.
It was the latest in a flurry of events in the volatile region as Chinese President Xi Jinping visits South Korea this week, and comes a day after Pyongyang fired two short-range ballistic missiles, defying a U.N. ban on such tests.
The visit by the head of state of its closest ally to a country with which the North is still technically at war could raise tensions. < snip >
Who the hell goes to North Korea on vacation? Were they missionaries or something?
But in part of the mixed signals sent by Pyongyang, the North offered on Monday to suspend military drills beginning July 4, if the South would call off annual joint exercises with its ally, the United States.
“The South Korean government should make a bold decision in response to our special offer and take a big step toward the new future to end the shameful past,” the National Defence Commission, the North’s top military body, said in comments carried by KCNA.
Japan has said it will respond to the missile test in cooperation with the United States and South Korea, but that it would not affect talks it is holding with the North this week on the fate of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the reclusive state decades ago.
Jeffrey Fowle, a 56-year-old street repairs worker from Miamisburg, Ohio, was arrested after entering North Korea as a tourist in late April.
North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world, but its economic backwardness and political system is a draw for some Western visitors keen for a glimpse of life behind the last sliver of the Cold War’s iron curtain.
A job application uncovered by the Dayton Daily News in Ohio said Fowle described himself as honest, friendly, and dependable.
They can keep one.
He tore up his visa at the border and asked for asylum.
Looks like he’s going to end up in one.
Wonder if this has anything to do with the rant NK went on a fews days ago about some comedy movie coming out which makes fun of Jong and North Korea. He said distributing this movie would be an act of war and other of the shrill NK nuttyness we’re all used to.
I was thinking the same thing, maybe Jeffrey Fowle has a death wish or something like that ???
The paper should not be publishing material from a job application.
Investigations into Americans Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Edward Fowle concluded that suspicions about their hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their testimonies, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said in a short report.
KCNA said North Korea is making preparations to bring them before a court. It did not specify what the two did that was considered hostile or illegal, or what kind of punishment they might face. It also did not say when the trial would begin.
Fowle arrived in the county on April 29. North Korea's state media said in June that authorities were investigating him for committing acts inconsistent with the purpose of a tourist visit.
Diplomatic sources said Fowle was detained for leaving the Bible in his hotel room. But a spokesman for Fowle's family said the 56-year-old from Ohio was not on a mission for his church. His wife and three children said they miss him very much and "are anxious for his return home," according to a statement after his detention that was provided by a spokesman for the family.
KCNA said Miller, 24, entered the country April 10 with a tourist visa, but tore it up at the airport and shouted that he wanted to seek asylum. A large number of Western tourists visited Pyongyang in April to run in the annual Pyongyang Marathon or attend related events. Miller came at that time, but tour organizers say he was not planning to join the marathon.
North Korea has also been separately holding Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae since November 2012. He was convicted by a North Korean court and is serving 15 years of hard labor, also for what the North says were hostile acts against the state.
The latest arrests present a conundrum for Washington, which has no diplomatic ties with the North and no embassy in Pyongyang.
Instead, the Swedish Embassy takes responsibility for U.S. consular affairs in the North. State Department officials say they cannot release details about the cases because they need a privacy waiver to do so.
Pyongyang has been strongly pushing tourism lately in an effort to bring in foreign cash. The tourism push has been directed at Chinese, who by far are the most common visitors to the North, but the still small number of Western tourists to North Korea has been growing.
Despite its efforts to bring in more tourists, the North remains highly sensitive to any actions it considers political and is particularly wary of anything it deems to be Christian proselytizing.
After Miller's detention, Washington updated its travel warning to the North to note that over the past 18 months, "North Korea detained several U.S. citizens who were part of organized tours. Do not assume that joining a group tour or use of a tour guide will prevent your arrest or detention by North Korean authorities."
It added that efforts by private tour operators to prevent or resolve past detentions of U.S. citizens in the DPRK have not succeeded in gaining their release.
The Korean Peninsula is still in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea.
Diplomatic sources said Fowle was detained for leaving the Bible in his hotel room. But a spokesman for Fowle's family said the 56-year-old from Ohio was not on a mission for his church. His wife and three children said they miss him very much and "are anxious for his return home," according to a statement after his detention that was provided by a spokesman for the family.
Those are the risks when you want to be a spy.
>>Who the hell goes to North Korea on vacation? Were they missionaries or something?<<
Probably could not get a flight to Iran.
Let ‘em rot.
You cannot protect stupid people from themselves.
Oh, it's the old Benghazi , er, I mean anti Nork video trick again.
There actually IS a movie - a Seth Rogen one, IIRC.
Do a search on Youtube for North Korea. You’ll see why they go there. It’s a Disney World of leader worship and dichotomies. .
Who the hell goes to North Korea on vacation?
Monrovia is packed this time of year, so he
got reduced rates for the North?
Flight cost the same but accommodations were free?
Yes there is, also starring James Franco. If these nut ball Norks were going to declare war, they would have done it with Team America, World Police, Salt, Red Dawn, Olympus has fallen, to name a few. Does Baghdad (we’re gonna roast their stomachs in Hell) Bob live in North Korea now?
Darwin Award winners, for sure! Hey, why not take a follow-up trip to visit the Taliban.
I wonder if they were smuggling imperialist contraband?
There are people, on foot, smuggling in hand crank radios, western DVD’s and thumb drives. What radios are available, for the few who are trusted, in North Korea have very limited band.
One group even sends hand crank radios, DVD’s and thumb drives into the country with makeshift helium ballons (documentary below).
Pretty interesting documentary on the subject:
The Secret State of North Korea
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/secret-state-of-north-korea/
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