Just this Saturday, North Korea released 85-year old American war veteran Merrill Newman, who had been detained in the country for nearly six weeks. His cause for arrest and detention was "indelible crimes' that he allegedly committed during the Korean War. Newman had traveled to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in October with on a friend on a private trip and had all necessary visa documentation. At the end of his trip just as he was on his way back to the United States, North Korean authorities pulled him off his plane and arrested him. A few weeks later in November, Newman read a lengthy, strangely worded apology and confession on state TV that admitted to these alleged war crimes. However, because of the quality of the English in this confession, there is general speculation that Newman may have been forced to read this under "duress" (Washington Post), something that is common in North Korea's treatment of detainees. Newman's imprisonment also led to the United States issuing a "blanket" travel warning, telling US citizens to avoid travel to North Korea (Washington Post).
North Korea is now claiming that they released 85 year-old Newman on humanitarian grounds, citing his advanced age. Newman, speaking to the press, thanked both the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for helping to secure his release. It is likely the U.S. exerted diplomatic pressure through these entities as the United States obviously does not hold diplomatic relations with North Korea.
So, in this situation, was North Korea just being North Korea? Did they see imprisoning Newman, an American citizen, as some sort of bargaining chip? If so, what did they achieve by detaining him? Was it just a ploy for international attention?
I'm curious to hear what you guys think.
I don't think the reasons for detaining Newman will ever be fully understood, there are likely many reasons North Korea arrested him. My guess would be the main goal was to get attention from the international community, basically to make headlines and gain domestic support. I read an ABC article where Newman says his apology was, "not his English," and the article also said Newman stayed in a hotel and was well-fed and comfortable. Since they weren't treating Newman poorly, I have to speculate that there were political goals behind detaining him.
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-vet-merrill-newman-85-home-north-korea-21139005
The North Korean GOVT doesn't have the best leadership in power at the moment and maybe never will. As said above, there may be a million reasons for why this kidnapping was carried out. All of those reasons still may be nothing more than an attention grabber for the World's Media. This act could have also been to help strength their own domestic problems, having an US Korean War Vet apologize to the people of North Korea may have been a plot to rally up some support for the North Korean GOVT from its own people. Showing their citizens that they are always trying to find revenge for what happened during the war years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe detention of the U.S. citizen was likely to both get both aid to bolster their struggling domestic population and to create a type of nationalistic support within the country. North Korea could have used Merrill Newman as a symbol to create a rally around the flag effect. Creating the United States as a common enemy could boost support of the government from the country's citizens. It might be a desperate attempt, as living conditions deteriorate for the population, for the government to try to gain some kind of support.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what detaining an 85 year old man would do for North Korea...maybe it was some sort of domestic propaganda move that they still remember the Korean War and they are going to still punish Americans? I don't know...?
ReplyDeleteI feel really bad for this elderly man. I clearly believe someone that age poses no threat to North Korea, and they just detained him to make a point to visitors from the U.S. This news is just really bizarre to me, and I believe it becomes difficult to understand the motives behind North Korea's decision to detain this man. All I can really suggest is that maybe traveling to North Korea is not the best decision and to be aware that you might be putting yourself at risk..
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely North Korea simply being North Korea. Nothing NK does is really rational and this is another case of that. This might have just been a ploy to create more nationalism in the country. If he did in fact fight in the Korean War then I believe his arrest was only for the benefit of the North Korean government to create more nationalism.
ReplyDeleteI do not see any reasoning for this man’s detainment, especially due to his age. I believe North Korea is just trying to ignite some sort of threat from an actor of the international community, with hopes of gaining attention albeit in an incorrect and inhumane manner. If the officials of North Korea who made this decision felt they were gaining a “bargaining chip” by detaining this man, there is no evidence of any benefits apparent to the international community. It would be interesting to view the decision-making process on behalf of North Korea, and determine whether or not they truly believed that Newman committed war crimes, despite the faulty confession.
ReplyDeleteI found this case to be quite curious, as there exists a number of reports from the recent years of high profile americans going to North Korea for tourism/curiosity. Recall the occurrence of Dennis Rodman going as part of a trip, as well as VICE.tv and the harlem globetrotters going for similar reasons (both occurrences were video and audio documented by VICE). This made me think that they were attempting to open up, then when an american citizen attempts to do the same (or similar thing) he is detained for a prolonged period of time under who knows what kind of conditions. The whole situation just confuses me to no end, when i do try and explain it i think either he got on the wrong side of one of his minders while there (took pictures of things he wasn't supposed to etc.), he talked about his history with the Korean War (something the North is still VERY touchy about) and again got under the skin of one of his minders, or was simply victim of North Korean bizarreness. Without the full facts it's difficult to tell, however we can all be glad that Merill Newman is free whatever the circumstances of his release/capture.
ReplyDeleteWhy the veteran would travel to the screwed up country first off I'm not sure but regardless, what North Korea did pisses me off. An 85 year old man? Really? Would anyone miss that country if it was wiped off the face of this planet? I totally agree with the Washington Post's opinion that the veteran was forced to read the apology. If the english was poorly written then that's a tell-all. I think North Korea was just being North Korea. Those communist idiots probably just wanted their brainwashed mal-treated citizens to see that an American soldier was apologizing to their country for what we did to it. I don't think they were looking for international attention, just another way to keep their citizens in 'we love North Korea' zombie mode.
ReplyDeleteI think this event was a cry for attention just as we saw with the missile tests in previous months. That being said, the magnitude of holding an American citizen is not taken lightly by the U.S. North Korea definitely realized this; if anything happened to the man, a former soldier, tensions would have escalated to a dangerous level.
ReplyDeleteDylan, that is exactly what I was wondering! I'm like, why would you just want to go to North Korea for fun? But that aside, I do think it was probably an event in which North Korea was just being North Korea, as well as a ploy for attention once again. I also think that due to the strange english within the apology given by the Veteran, he was probably forced to read it. I'm glad they eventually let him go, probably realizing that keeping him there would not be in their interest in the end, and that he was able to return safely. I'm sure he will rethink visiting the country again.
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