SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has sentenced an American teacher to eight years of hard labor and ordered him to pay a $700,000 fine after he crossed illegally into the country — the fourth U.S. citizen to be detained by the isolated regime since last year.
Aijalon Mahli Gomes, of Boston, acknowledged his wrongdoing during a trial at the Central Court on Tuesday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch Wednesday.
Why does the phrase "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes" come to mind? Oh, because that's exactly what happened here. Gomes knew what happens to Americans who get caught snooping around North Korea - he had attended rallies for Robert Park, who was detained in North Korea for 43 days after crossing the border. Gomes should have been well aware of the dangers of crossing into North Korea, and if not, shame on him. If he was, then this is little shy of a publicity stunt.
And given that North Korea has already released three Americans who crossed over their border, it's quite possible they might be ready to make this one stick. If that's the case, Gomes has eight long years of iPod- and latte-free living ahead of him as he makes little rocks out of big rocks while subsisting on rice and cockroaches. Although it doesn't look like he'll actually serve any time:
However, North Korea expert Yoo Ho-yeol of Korea University in Seoul said Gomes will likely be released without having to serve the prison term. He predicted North Korea would use him as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the U.S. on its nuclear program.
Wouldn't that just be peachy? This addle-headed dogooder winds up with a get-out-of-jail free card, Kim Jong II gets to continue apace on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, and Øbama gets to drape himself in the flag, flush with the success of having brought home another liberal lion fresh from the clutches of teh evil Norks. Everybody wins! Well, everybody except the entire rest of the world put in danger from a nuclear-weapon-armed North Korea, but hey, who cares about that when there's a sale on Priuses!
Personally, I'm rootin' for the rocks...
That is all.
5 comments:
And he's probably got a book deal when he gets back...
hmm .. what noises would people make if the USA made every illegal border crosser do 8 yrs hard labor and pay a 700K fine.
am I evil if I think N.Korea had a good idea?
"This addle-headed dogooder"... When I first read that I thought it said "addled-headed dog-doer"... Pretty much comes out to mean the same thing in this case.
Since we out source tech support to India can we "in source" border control to the NorKs?
omg Stretch took a good idea and made it better.
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