Well it has happened again. An American tourist has been arrested in North Korea on some trumped up charge. His name is Otto Warmier and he is a student at the University of Virginia. He traveled as a tourist to North Korea with a Chinese touring company. He probably couldn’t get there any other way. The reason, there are travel bans and travel restrictions. Wouldn’t a normal intelligent person get the hint that traveling there is a dangerous activity?
I do have a few questions. First, why would anyone want to travel to North Korea? Our government has warned against it for good reasons. Secondly, what could North Korea possibly have that would be worth seeing? And lastly, why would anyone risk their life and freedom for the experience? You would be better off touring any American big city ghetto in a drug-filled neighborhood at night than touring North Korea.
Warmier, by his foolish action, has put himself and this country at great risk. North Korea is just doing what you expect them to do. They just saw us pay a huge ransom to get hostages released from Iran and they apparently want to get in on the action.
Some individuals do dangerous and risky things that put their lives at risk expecting others to risk their lives to come and rescue them. Warmier and his family now surely expect us to risk life and treasure to win his release. The phrase “useful idiot” has been attributed to Lenin, although that has not been proven, but the term refers to individuals who by their foolishness become tools in the hands of dictators. Warmier has become what we can call a useful idiot. Not useful to us. Oh no, useful only to North Korea.
Here’s a news flash. North Korea is not like America. They don’t need or care about “probable cause” for any arrest. They don’t need or care about anybody’s rights. In North Korea, Americans don’t have any rights. All North Korea sees now is money. They believe they have a prize for which America will bend over backward to rescue.
The smart money says the only reason North Korea exploded their latest bomb was because they need money or food and they are looking for leverage against the west. That is probably the reason they took this young man. They have charged that he, in collusion with the U.S. government, is trying to destroy the unity of the North Korean people. What North Korea needs to understand is if we chose to destroy North Korea we could do that in a matter of seconds and we wouldn’t use college kids. We would probably just push a button on one of the nuclear submarines submerged just off their coast. End of story, end of North Korea.
It is far more likely this youngster just arrogantly decided to visit North Korea thinking he would be untouchable. Wrong choice.
Now what if we decided to let him pay for his stupidity? What if we just let the North Koreans put him in their jail? What if we told them to take a hike?
Of course we won’t do that. We will complain and cry, but in the final analysis, we will pay. This kid will suffer for a while and his family will also, but we will get him back. When we do though, we should put him in one of our jails.
If this world had a proper respect for the power of this country, they wouldn’t dare take one of our citizens like this. The fact they don’t fear us is our own fault. I live for the day when that fear is rightfully restored.
