On Friday April 29th a U.S. citizen of Korean heritage was sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor after the North Korean government convicted him of espionage and subversion. This is the second American it has put behind bars this year. His punishment is a bit too much for any American citizen to take-mainly because he was expressing his opinion . We forget that our 1st amendment rights don’t travel with us. Every human has the right to say what they do and do not like but too many governments do not protect that right. It happens to be no surprise that this American citizen does not meet eye to eye with the North Korean government.
Kim Dong Chul was sentenced after a brief trial in Pyongyang by North Korea’s Supreme Court, which found him guilty of espionage and subversion under Articles 60 and 64 of the North’s criminal code. North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spies in an attempt to overthrow its government. Outsiders say North Korea seeks to use its U.S. detainees to wring concessions from Washington. It is true that the U.S does indeed send spies out to many foreign countries and the U.S. does not always protect the rights it says are so important for all. Is it because they want to show their superior power? Are our politics based on fear? Do we have “xenophobia” which simply means an intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries?
Others might disagree about why would the U.S. fear any outside country? Yeah the U.S. being the superpower it is, many countries are starting their own powerful armies of their own everyone wants to have their own super army. Many countries are sending spies in to North Korea mainly because of all their threats they send out to the world stating that they have the best nuclear missile aimed for them.
In March, North Korea sentenced Otto Warmbier, an American university student, to 15 years in prison with hard labor. It said he engaged in anti-state activities while visiting the country as a tourist earlier this year most Americans who have been sentenced to long prison terms have been released before serving their full time.
For further information on this topic visit http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/north-korea-sends-us-citizen-prison-38751821
For information from the US Department of State on official travel Alerts and Warnings issues for American Citizens CLICK HERE.
