Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "How to Survive" channel.

@QuagmireYellowParty I'm not generally a fan of travel bans, but in cases like North Korea it can be warranted. The big issue with North Korea in particular, is that it's not like there's any sort of real cultural exchange anyways. All you're doing is puffing up their supreme leader's ego, handing them some money and giving them the opportunity to get a hostage.
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@sergeantchick2820 It was pretty clear that he was forced to confess as the acting in that court video was absolutely terrible. It's unclear whether he was lying about doing it or lying about being sorry. But, either way it didn't look at all convincing.
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@turalmirzaliev1232 They have money, where do you think that Kim Jong Un gets his toys from? But, that's a bit of a moot point as there isn't anyway of compelling them to pay whatever they've got towards a verdict due to them being a sovereign state. (A large chunk of the money comes from cybercrime)
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The difference is that North Korea has the money, it's just that due to sanctions there's absolutely no way of getting it even if they decide they want to pay up.
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@petergilkes7082 Most other countries that would either not be criminal or would result in deportation. He absolutely was a hostage.
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@ulucio86 Yep, the US does propagandize our own people, but it's a matter of degrees. In the US, you can usually figure out what the truth is and spread it, that's not the case in places like North Korea. Assuming you can even learn the truth, it's pretty much impossible to spread the truth.
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What gets me is that unlike other countries, it's not like you even get to see any of what's really going on. If you got to China, you can interact with real Chinese people and you just have to avoid doing a few things like interfering with their internal politics.
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@sergeantchick2820 I'm not sure how that ignorance warrants an upvote. Whether or not I approve, North Korea handles it's legal system the way that it does and it's really about time that people just flat out stop going as it's not like you even get the benefit of showing them what foreign people are really like or any sort of cultural exchange. Even Cuba and China permit more access tot he population than North Korea does.
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@thrrax It's not enforceable. The US doesn't have access to the databases from other countries, so if you don't have a stamp in your passport, they likely have no way of knowing if you were even there. It happens in some parts of the world where having a stamp could result in serious issues from a different country as the only people that know about you crossing the border are the officials and anybody you see. By the time they do find out about it, it's too late and whatever damage has been done has been done.
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@dan6442 Being in a bed for a prolonged period of time isn't a definitive sign of torture or abuse. This is a country with limited resources and he could have fallen ill and they may have not been able to provide treatment. That is clearly being extremely generous, but it is consistent.
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Most people come and go just fine, the worst bit is that you're giving them money and allowing them to spread propaganda. And, honestly, that really ought to be enough reason not to go. It's not like most other authoritarian regimes where you do get to at least experience some of the local culture. I used to live in China and I could go pretty much wherever I wanted and talk to whomever I wanted to. I met smugglers and one of my friends heard some of the real gossip from somebody that wasn't the fan of the government. I was pretty careful about how I did all of it, but there wasn't really the same level or risk that going to North Korea has. Plus for all the folks talking about torture, it's hardly just North Korea that does that, Japan has had issues with confessions being tortured out of people just because of how important that can be and the US is a bit better, but there's a lot of psychological abuse int eh process there as well.
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@tracesprite6078 In all fairness, I doubt they intended to kill him, they probably wanted a political prisoner.
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@honeybunch5765 Exactly, that, early as much as the risk of being taken as a political hostage, is why I wouldn't ever go there. It's not like when I lived in the PRC and could largely interact with the locals freely so long as I avoided interfering with their local politics or talking about certain subjects. At least my presence and the presence of other foreigners had some chance of encouraging a peaceful outcome in the future. With North Korea, you don't ever interact with people that aren't actors whose family are being held hostage. You don't ever get to encounter the real North Korea and you give them the opportunity to get a hostage, puff up their image or leave a few tourist dollars for them to use on their camps and swag for their fearless leader.
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In all fairness, normally it's not that big of a deal There's a minder with you at all times when you're outside of the hotel and everything that you see is staged to reinforce the official view that the government wants you to see. As in, in most cases, just being there and seeing what they want you to see is sufficient for the government, they don't normally need to arrest people and it's arguably against their interests to do so. That doesn't necessarily mean that he wasn't a genuine hostage, but I wouldn't necessarily assume that he was either.
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