# Don't Vacation in North Korea. Go to School There Instead! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 28, 2019, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199 "2019-06-28T02:03:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/1 "2019-06-28T02:03:31Z")
Alek Sigley is a Korean/English-Australian student studying the Korean language at Kim Il Sung University. He also led tours there and had more access to the population than a westerner would typically have. He isn’t the only one, either. The majority of foreign students studying in North Korea, because it’s cheap, are from China, which has a not-entirely terrible relationship with North Korea. The relationship between North Korea and Australia? > [@](#): > > The executive director of the Centre for Korean-American Peace, Kim Myong-Chol, says if US ships interdict North Korean vessels, North Korea will retaliate with a nuclear missile attack on major cities such as New York and Washington. > > Mr Myong-Chol has told the ABC’s Lateline program that if Australia is part of the interdiction, it could also be attacked. > > “If Australia becomes part of American manipulation against North Korea, North Korea reserves the right to strike back on Australia - that is official North Korean position,” he said. > > He added: “North Korea can reach Australian mainland anytime. Unfortunately, Australia has no capacity to reach North Korea.” > > Mr Myong-Chol has warned Prime Minister John Howard to carefully consider his approach to the North Korean issue. > > “The North Korean message is to be careful in talking,” he said.“Otherwise, harm to Australia.” Link: [Australia 'risks nuclear strike' - ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2003-07-15/australia-risks-nuclear-strike/1448598) Living in North Korea is, possibly, risky, if you’re a westerner. > [@](#): > > The family of Alek Sigley, a 29-year-old student living in Pyongyang, could not confirm if he had been arrested, but said he had not been in touch with them since Tuesday. Link: [Australian student Alek Sigley feared detained in North Korea](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48781435) > [@](#): > > Steering clear of politics, Sigley describes a life chatting with Chinese exchange students, drinking with Russian students and playing video games and going to restaurants with students from Canada and Sweden. > **[Australian student and tour guide may be detained in North Korea](https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3016251/fears-australian-student-and-tour-guide-alek-sigley-who-may-be)** > > The son of an Anglo-Australian man and Chinese mother, Sigley previously studied at Fudan University in Shanghai and in South Korea before moving to Pyongyang, where he is one of a handful of Western students at Kim Il-sung University. Clearly he should have been more careful: > [@](#): > > After posting a photo of himself and a friend - whose face he covered with an emoji - Mr Sigley liked a comment joking about the mystery man being an American spy > **[Is the post that saw an Australian man detained in North Korea?](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7186411/North-Korea-detain-Australian-man-Alek-Sigley.html)** > > Alek Sigley (left), 29, who is believed to be the only Australian living in North Korea, went missing this week after a series of posts on social media about life in the mysterious capital of Pyongyang. His “arrest” has not been confirmed, of course. I don’t think this should be allowed, but it’s not like anything can be done about it. If someone really wants to go to North Korea **and live there** you can’t stop them. I don’t feel the government should try anything beyond diplomacy to free him. But I really hope he’s just sick for a couple of days, explaining why he’s not on social media. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/2 "2019-06-28T03:15:36Z")
A Westerner living in N Korea is incredibly risky. One misspoken word or action and you can disappear. I hope Sigley reappears soon. He might be a bit bruised but not badly hurt. There’s not much that can be done. He made his choice to attend school there. He knew the regime’s brutal reputation. No one can help him now. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/3 "2019-06-28T10:38:44Z")
How could he be there so long, in school and NOT understand the foolishness of joking about/with an American spy? ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/4 "2019-06-28T12:28:33Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > How could he be there so long, in school and NOT understand the foolishness of joking about/with an American spy? Seriously. My first thought was that this was a kind of collaborative scare tactic, that he was posing as someone joking about it to be made a public example of, while behind the scenes it was all pre-arranged with his cooperation and he’s actually deep in the propaganda side of things. That’s almost more believable than that he could be that oblivious ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/5 "2019-06-28T13:16:42Z")
This is part of the unnerving thing about dealing with totalitarian regimes - > [@](#): > > The executive director of the Centre for Korean-American Peace, Kim Myong-Chol, says if US ships interdict North Korean vessels, North Korea will retaliate with a nuclear missile attack on major cities such as New York and Washington. The executive director of a center for peace is talking about nuking NYC. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. I hope this student is OK, and that the North Koreans haven’t beaten him into a coma and are preparing to send a bill for it to the Aussie government. I hope it. I don’t know if I expect it, but I hope it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/6 "2019-06-28T14:19:52Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > This is part of the unnerving thing about dealing with totalitarian regimes - The executive director of a center for peace is talking about nuking NYC. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. Aye; nothing like that going on anywhere but those totalitarian regimes. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/7 "2019-06-28T15:12:22Z")
Yeah, somebody’s got to be pretty dumb to be from a Western country and study in North Korea. However, I do think that Australia should do what it can to see to his safety and release. Also, if someone sets their house on fire because they were, say, smoking in bed or some other dumb thing, I think the fire department should do their best to make sure that dummy doesn’t die. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/8 "2019-06-28T15:16:44Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > This is part of the unnerving thing about dealing with totalitarian regimes - The executive director of a center for peace is talking about nuking NYC. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. > > I hope this student is OK, and that the North Koreans haven’t beaten him into a coma and are preparing to send a bill for it to the Aussie government. I hope it. I don’t know if I expect it, but I hope it. > > Regards, > Shodan “[Peace is our Profession](http://www.peaceisourprofession.org/)” – Motto of the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command, 1947 - 1992, a time when they operated a significant fraction of the world’s entire nuclear weapons capacity in a state of hair-trigger readiness. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/9 "2019-06-28T17:09:07Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > “[Peace is our Profession](http://www.peaceisourprofession.org/)” – …nuclear weapons in a state of hair-trigger readiness. And they did a very professional job,keeping the world peaceful in an era when World War III was a real possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-vacation-in-north-korea-go-to-school-there-instead/836199/10 "2019-06-28T17:13:25Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > And they did a very professional job,keeping the world peaceful in an era when World War III was a real possibility. Hm… North Korea has a somewhat better record on getting into wars than the United States does during that same period.