By I doubt the soldiers that caught Robert Park will get the same reward:
North Korea commended two soldiers for detaining a pair of journalists from the United States in March along the border with China, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Thursday. The journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for trespassing and “hostile acts” against North Korea but were pardoned in August after a trip to North Korea by former President Bill Clinton. The two soldiers appeared in a North Korean state television program broadcast Thursday to commemorate the 18th anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s assumption of command of the country’s army, Yonhap reported. The program’s anchor said Mr. Kim, North Korea’s leader, had given them an award for seizing Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee, and had also granted them special leave, according to Yonhap. [New York Times]
6:34 pm on December 28th, 2009 1
I'm entirely sure that this post proclamation has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Park, given the timing and all…
10:49 pm on December 28th, 2009 2
An award and a special leave? Given that he gained both financially and politically from this…Cheap bastard!
2:17 am on December 29th, 2009 3
Entirely in order! Yeah, I suspect capturing a Valley Girl Reporterette and her trusty Ko-Am sidekick wasn't at all difficult and not at all dangerous. But this should be counter-balanced by the fact the concessions Obama made to get them out was likely enough to noticeably boost their economy. 만세,만세 and all that business!!
I wish they would release the video the girls made of their capture. I bet it would be funny!
11:45 am on December 29th, 2009 4
Bet the award was two crisp new hundred dollar bills hot off the press. Understand they are quite popular in PyongYang.
2:33 pm on December 29th, 2009 5
Nah, those are strictly for export purposes. They were probably given some North Korean won. They probably don't have a lot of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_won#200…
3:30 pm on December 29th, 2009 6
Would an autographed picture of Kim Jong Il have been appropriate as an award?
9:35 pm on April 20th, 2010 7
Euna Lee's book, The World Is Bigger Now, goes on sale in September. I intend to buy it.
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?…
1:04 am on April 21st, 2010 8
Good for you
I intend to ignore it.
Euna Lee: Not to bright a girl to walk into N. Korea.
2:47 am on April 21st, 2010 9
Is "Glans" a real poster here… or is this a spambot which recognized Euna Lee's name and put in a plug for her book?
I hope that's the case… as I would be greatly disappointed to find anyone here is such a tool they would brag about rewarding the selfish actions of a manipulative shrew such as Euna Lee by purchasing her $35 book.
Glans, if you are not a spambot, you are representative of a problem with modern American society… where notoriety, generally through grossly incorrect actions, is rewarded by a dumbed-down population eager to live their pathetic lives vicariously through those who have achieved a short-cut to fame.
Those two worthless skanks caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people under the guise of "exposing" North Korea… yet since they returned, they have had nothing but glowing praise for North Korea, their captors and the "bonds" they made with them.
Absolutely sickening.
When they were at the peak of notoriety, instead of channeling it in a positive way by bringing attention to the monstrosity that is North Korea, they squandered it on a lot of self-serving talk of "sisterhood"… indicating their intentions all along to be more of self-promotion than exposure of evil regimes.
So buy that book, Glans… and help encourage more six-figure book deals for every self-promoting jerk-off.
Screw up badly enough and maybe you could be one of them.
6:13 am on April 21st, 2010 10
I think I will "write a book". A collection of email forwards.
It seems people will buy absolutely ANYTHING.
8:14 am on April 21st, 2010 11
I'm a real person. I never would have heard of ROKdrop or OFK but for the arrest of Laura and Euna. I follow North Korean issues because of them. I don't comment at OFK any more because Joshua Stanton said I was trolling.
Laura and Euna have not given any glowing praise of North Korea.
Laura and Lisa Ling have spoken of sisterhood because they are, indeed, sisters. For what it's worth, Joshua continues to think highly of Lisa, even as he has misgivings about Laura's conduct.
I plan to read the Lings' "Somewhere Inside" next month and Lee's "The World is Bigger Now" in September. If their book tours bring them near my home town, I want all three of their autographs.
I'm still waiting for Mitch Koss's explanation of the events surrounding the arrest of Laura and Euna, but even if he writes a book, I'm not sure I'll buy it.