13 yr old American visits North Korea

[MJ12]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100819/ap_on_re_as/as_china_north_korea_visit_3


What a naive kid.

BEIJING – A 13-year-old American boy who made a rare visit to Pyongyang says officials there welcomed his idea for a "children's peace forest" in the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Korea, although they said it would only happen if the countries signed a peace treaty first.
Jonathan Lee returned Thursday from an eight-day visit to the reclusive country during which he was taken on a tour of the DMZ. A hoped-for meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not materialize, although Lee said the officials forwarded to Kim a letter from him.
"On this trip, I discovered that both sides want reunification and that Korea is one, so I see hope on the Korean peninsula," Lee, who made the visit with his parents, Kyoung and Melissa Lee, told The Associated Press.
Impoverished North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world and its hard-line communist regime is under United Nations sanctions for launching missiles and refusing to comply with nuclear weapons inspections. Since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a cease-fire and not an armistice, the U.S., South Korea and North Korea remain technically at war.
Lee, of Ridgeland, Mississippi, said the officials told him his proposed children's forest was dependent on North Korea first signing a peace treaty with the United States to formally end the war — a longstanding demand of Pyongyang's.

The 2 1/2 mile (4 kilometer)-wide DMZ is the most heavily guarded border in the world, sealed off with electric fences and studded with land mines, watchtowers and military bases.
Despite the political hurdles, Lee said he'll continue pushing the idea for a peace forest to allow interaction between children from the two sides and hopes to visit the North again next year.
The lack of diplomatic relations between Pyongyang and Washington makes private visits to the North by Americans extremely rare. In recent months North Korea has detained four Americans for illegal entry, and one is still in prison there.
Melissa Lee said concerns about the family's safety in the north had proved unfounded. "We were taken care of. At no point did I feel unsafe," she said.
Although initially taken aback by her son's desire to visit the North, she said the trip proved to be a moving experience. "For him to want to do this on his own, I'm fairly proud of him. He may not have met (Kim), but the fact that he did it was something," she said.
The Lee family said they received permission this summer to visit North Korea from the country's representative to the United Nations. Visas were granted last week in Beijing.
Home video shot by the family during their visit showed Jonathan Lee talking to tourists inside a meeting room at the DMZ, presenting flowers at a children's music performance, and visiting a museum, library and Pyongyang's famed mass games.
In his letter submitted to the North Korean leader, Lee said he wrote that former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung had talked with him about his "sunshine policy" of peaceful coexistence with the North.
That policy of rapprochement has been abandoned by the current conservative South Korean government, and relations between Seoul and Pyongyang are at their most tense in years.

 

[No Limit]

When I was 13 I was way too busy thanks to the wonderful invention of internet porn to do something like that.

 

[Escaep]

Justin Bieber should have gone on tour with him.

 

[Shem]

...officials there welcomed his idea for a "children's peace forest" in the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Korea, although they said it would only happen if the countries signed a peace treaty first.

Yeah, I've already formed an opinion on the matter.

 

[Solaris]

What a ****ing stupid idea. Kid doesn't have a clue.

 

[Danimal]

Maybe NK is just trying to get a bit of international PR by doing this idk

 

[Emporius]

What a naive kid.

What a ****ing stupid idea. Kid doesn't have a clue.

:|

You guys suck.

 

[<RJMC>]

stern's son?

 

[Mr Stabby]

pretentious stupid idea.

 

[Raziaar]

North Korea probably has provisions in place in the event of a "peaceful reunification" to use it's military force as a coup force to seize control of the reunified Korea for the North.

 

[sixteenth]

Sure, have your peace forest. We ain't gonna remove the mines.

 

[MJ12]

:|

You guys suck.

Peace.

 

[CptStern]

you guys do kind of suck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_York

both helped foster better understanding between americans and the citizens of those particular countries

there's a good episode of This American Life where they interview the girl (sarah york) who got to meet noreiga during the height of strained US Panama relations

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/246/My-Pen-Pal

you guys should give it a listen

 

[VictimOfScience]

Ha! Better relations between the US and other countries on the Axis of Evil. Not likely. If they stand up to us (which all of them should), we will spin the shit out of any mention of them so that as many of the unthinking dipshit American public will HATE them for no reason whatsoever.

 

[<RJMC>]

you guys do kind of suck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_York

both helped foster better understanding between americans and the citizens of those particular countries

there's a good episode of This American Life where they interview the girl (sarah york) who got to meet noreiga during the height of strained US Panama relations

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/246/My-Pen-Pal

you guys should give it a listen

yeah and the governors of those countryes did accept it,what better way to improve international image that kids praising you

but since is used against the usa is very good

wonder what you would think if a iraqui kid will send happy letters and pose smiling whit bush

 

[CptStern]

yeah and the governors of those countryes did accept it,what better way to improve international image that kids praising you

except had you bothered to listen to the episode of this american life I linked to, you'd see that's not the case at all

but since is used against the usa is very good

again not the case at all.

wonder what you would think if a iraqui kid will send happy letters and pose smiling whit bush

i'd be very surprised because as my iraqi coworker assures me; they'd rather throw shoes at him

 

[<RJMC>]

except had you bothered to listen to the episode of this american life I linked to, you'd see that's not the case at all



again not the case at all.



i'd be very surprised because as my iraqi coworker assures me; they'd rather throw shoes at him

the point is,politician see oportunity to improve image,he take it

why you think that the stereotype of politician shaking hands and kissing babyes exists?

especially since is someone hated by certain country,and seeing someone of that country being friendly to him,what better way to attack that negative image?

so imagine if you see in the tv the case of a iraquy kid befriending bush and posing smiling whit him you willbe the first one to stand up and say "bullshit!" but hey is a kid and look how lovely bush look,sure he is not a monster as many people say

 

[15357]

**** him. I want him and all of his newly found friends in his little peace forest while we bomb the shit out of it.

And of course Korea is One. We just happen to not have control over the northern half.

 

[CptStern]

the point is,politician see oportunity to improve image,he take it

ya they talk about that in the podcast when they interview key people that were involved




maybe you should just listen to that podcast I linked to because it addresses pretty much every one of your concerns. so before continuing to comment on something you really dont know all that much about why not take a few minutes and listen to the podcast?

 

[Remus]

**** him. I want him and all of his newly found friends in his little peace forest while we bomb the shit out of it.

A radioactive peace forest amirite?

On a more serious note I find this weird, at that age I didn't give a damn about politics or foreign problems in general.