By Joshua over at One Free Korea has done it again because I couldn’t stop laughing after reading this posting about Michael Jackson offering to go to North Korea to negotiate the release of the US journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee being held hostage there:
The last time I spoke to my friend Michael Jackson was about a month ago, 3 weeks before his shocking death. He had called me late one night to ask about another of my close friends who he had read about in the news. Laura Ling, a former colleague and friend, was detained originally by North Korean border guards along with her colleague Euna Lee on March 17th. [….]
Michael had read some of the details regarding Laura and Euna’s predicament. As was often the case with him and global events he read about – from famine in Africa to victims of natural disasters in far off countries, to orphans created by wars – he felt a deep sense of empathy for Laura and Euna. When I shared with him that Euna had a four-year-old daughter, he was even more anguished.
He asked me whether I had had any contact with Laura. I told him I had written her a few letters and had been assured they were getting through. Outside of that, her own family had only heard from her twice – brief monitored phone calls – in the over three months they had been imprisoned. When I told him that, Michael paused.
“Do you think,” he said hesitantly, “that the leader of North Korea could be a fan of mine?” [Gotham Chopra, Herald de Paris]
Click here to read how Joshua pictures such a summit happening. LOL
4:49 am on July 25th, 2009 1
You guys need to tweak your Google alerts.
This very legitimate recollection by close MJ friend Chopra crossed the wire three weeks ago (July 5th).
2:02 pm on July 25th, 2009 2
kim jong il has gotta be a fan. i wonder how many copies of thriller are in north korea?
4:29 am on July 26th, 2009 3
@Richard
In all fairness I hadn't heard about this.
7:14 pm on March 10th, 2011 4
You're all idiots. Lisa Ling, Laura Ling's sister, was recently on the Jimmy Kimmel show. She said that she, in fact, sought Michael Jackson's participation in efforts to release her sister in the form of a song about peace, reconciliation, etc. Unknown to her, Jackson was himself asking if perhaps Kim Jong Il, the owner of an extensive collection of American movies and videos, was a fan of Jackson, as was the entire rest of the free world. It would not have been strange at all if Jackson was able to facilitate a reconsideration by Kim Jong Il, based on Jackson's worldwide humanitarian efforts for which he is well known among his fan base. Of course, infants such as GI Korea, brainwashed by American media into thinking Jackson was some kind of freak, would interpret Jackson's intentions as hilarious. Unfortunately, Jackson died before he could conclude yet another humanitarian effort.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoiEY60mCMM
12:12 am on March 11th, 2011 5
At #4, what are you talking about? I never said that the conversation above didn't happen. I just said the posting by OFK on how he pictured MJ going to the DPRK was funny.
Anyway if Jackson didn't die, I find it very unlikely the Kim Jong-il would have agreed to have handed over the journalists to him. He wanted a political figure not the King of Pop. Bill Clinton's visit provided the regime ample domestic propaganda in return for the journalists that MJ would not have provided.