DPRK (North Korean) Communists Hold American Journalists; Threaten A Kangaroo Court

Communists don’t change. From Stalin to Mao to the current leadership of DPRK (Pronounced Dee-Perk), it has always been the same: Sustain a reign of terror, even if it means trying and convicting innocent people. Evidence and transparency are irrelevent, just make arrests and start tossing people in prison.

According to the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his epic work The Gulag Archipelago, that is how communists work. North Korea hasn’t changed one little bit along those lines.

From the Associated Press:

North Korea announced that two U.S. journalists were about to go on trial — then came the mysterious silence. The day passed Friday with no updates of the criminal proceedings that were supposed to begin Thursday for TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

And what were these two supposed to go on trial for? Read on:

The journalists — working for former Vice President Al Gore’s California-based Current TV — were arrested March 17 as they were reporting about the trafficking of women. It’s unclear if they strayed into the North or were grabbed by aggressive border guards who crossed into China. Although the Americans were accused of illegally entering North Korea and unspecified “hostile acts,” Pyongyong has yet to publicly announce the exact charges against them. South Korean legal experts have said a conviction for “hostility” or espionage could mean five to 10 years in a labor camp.

Given the track record of lies and distortions that make up the bulk of the history of communist regimes, I would venture to guess that aggressive border guards crossed into China. How can I make such a claim? Read the history of “justice” in DRPK:

Venezuelan poet Ali Lameda described to the human rights group Amnesty International in a written report his experience in a North Korean court that sentenced him to 20 years in a labor camp in 1967. Lameda, a member of the Venezuelan Communist Party, said he was working as a translator in Pyongyang when he was accused of spying, sabotage and infiltration — allegations he denied. No evidence, formal charges or specific allegations were presented during the one-day proceeding, he said. Instead, court officials repeatedly demanded that Lameda confess his guilt. A defense lawyer was assigned to him, but the attorney gave a long speech praising the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung before suggesting his client be sentenced to 20 years.

No, the communists haven’t changed one little bit.

Where is Barack Obama and why isn’t he demanding the release of these two Americans being illegally held by DPRK? He and the Democrats are certainly vocal enough when it is the U.S. holding legitimate terrorism suspects.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

North Korea Silent About US Journalists’ Trial
William Foreman, Jean H. Lee and Kwang-tae Kim
Associated press
June 5, 2009