# Should the US assist Matthew Miller in North Korea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 15, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569 "2014-09-15T15:57:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/41 "2014-09-16T20:10:36Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > It seems like a really easy thing to just laugh about Darwin Awards and whatnot, but I truly hope that anyone who makes such cracks never has to have an experience where a loved one has a lapse of judgment, or even a significant medical condition, which causes a tragic situation. I have a cousin who ran away from home at 15, shacked up with a set of 40 year olds doing heroin, had five kids who were taken away from her at various points by the government, to protect them, (though I believe that they were given back). She died last week, by stepping out into the street without looking. Her life sucked in part because of her upbringing and in part because of emotional instability that runs through branches of my family. I’m sad that her life sucked, but I’d much rather that it stopped with her. People are free to ruin their own lives, but there’s nothing to be gained by letting them ruin others. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/42 "2014-09-16T20:18:01Z")
I think he should spend three years in NK, marry a North Korean woman, then defect back to the US where he will bounce from one low-paying job to another, found the “Fair Play for Syria” committee, and the the FBI, CIA, Mafia, and Illiminati can use him as the patsy in an elaborate plot to assassinate a high public official. Using a robot chicken. We will call it the “Magic Pullet” theory. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/43 "2014-09-16T20:48:48Z")
I have mixed feelings on the Matthew Miller situation. On one hand, he knew what he was getting himself into. On the other hand, he’s probably mentally ill and should be treated with compassion. On the third hand, NOBODY should be in a North Korean prison. Even the worst criminals in the world shouldn’t be subjected to such “cruel and unusual punishment.” > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I’m all for trying strongly trying to get all three of them released, including the gentleman who apparently left a Bible in a rest room. The United States should not make efforts to free people who travel to a foreign country with the specific intent to violate that country’s laws. The question becomes - Did Jeffrey Fowle actually leave the bible in the hotel room and did Kenneth Bae actually attempt to proselytize in North Korea? For Kenneth Bae, a Christian missionary, the answer is almost certainly “yes.” We should not make efforts to have him released. For Jeffrey Fowle, the answer is not as clear. We don’t have any real evidence that he did leave that bible in that room, nor have I heard anything about him being especially religious or into proselytizing. I think the most likely scenario is that he did transport the bible into North Korea, thus intentionally violating NK law, but given the information that we have, we should give him the benefit of the doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/44 "2014-09-17T02:58:06Z")
It could be worse. There have been people who have done similar things with bears. > [@grude](#): > > There is a small online community of these guys(everyone I have seen has been male) North Korea wannabe defectors and immigrants, a few years ago one caused a scene at a NK embassy I recall. > > No I don’t get it. I did not know that. Now that I do, it makes me think of serial killer pen pals. I wonder if that’s the female version of the . . . outlook? I feel sad for these people. But I think that the efforts to get them back should be measured ones. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/45 "2014-09-17T12:15:08Z")
Count me in the votes for “this guy must have some serious mental issue”. There was a time (say, at the height of the cold war) when I could see some otherwise normal people defecting to NK, but nowodays? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/46 "2014-09-17T14:44:37Z")
From all relevant indicators (the dude who’s already serving a sentence of “hard labor” in North Korea, the journalists who were imprisoned and then released), the latest idiot convicted by North Korea’s so-called judiciary will not actually be performing hard labor; not to mention that he certainly won’t be living in the squalid conditions teeming masses imprisoned in North Korea’s labor camps are living in. At any rate, what do you expect the US government to do that it’s not already doing? Can’t send any kind of spokesperson into North Korea without that country’s government’s permission. The US seems to have already asked for such permission to discuss this and the other cases and North Korea has declined. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/47 "2014-09-17T14:47:44Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > marry a North Korean woman Impossible. If he were granted permission by North Korea to defect to their country, he could only marry another non-Korean resident there. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/48 "2014-09-17T16:16:50Z")
He’s going to be [ronery](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/teamamericaworldpolice/imsoronery.htm), then. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/49 "2014-09-17T17:45:54Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Impossible. If he were granted permission by North Korea to defect to their country, he could only marry another non-Korean resident there. Is that an actual law on the books, or would they just be denied a license based on cultural antipathy towards “mixing?” Come to think of it, are North Korean laws codified like they are in the U.S. and other first-world countries? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/50 "2014-09-17T20:37:44Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > He’s going to be [ronery](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/teamamericaworldpolice/imsoronery.htm), then. > > Regards, > Shodan Just a linguistic point here: the Korean language actually does have both the /r/ and /l/ sounds. Actually, plenty of languages in Asia have both of those sounds. Japanese, being a language isolate, certainly isn’t representative of the continents linguistic variety. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/51 "2014-09-17T20:46:38Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Is that an actual law on the books, or would they just be denied a license based on cultural antipathy towards “mixing?” > > Come to think of it, are North Korean laws codified like they are in the U.S. and other first-world countries? Apparently, the DPRK has both codified laws and what are essentially directions from the ruling party’s apparatuses throughout the country. The latter are known only to those enforcing same. Escapees from the country who have been imprisoned have often stated that they were never informed of what law or regulation they supposedly violated to get them sent to either prison or the camps. Foreigners who defected to the country are married to other defectors or even to women who were abducted from overseas. On top of that, the local populace is not permitted, generally, to interact with foreigners. If you can, grab a copy of [The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters](http://www.amazon.com/Cleanest-Race-Koreans-Themselves-Matters/dp/1935554344/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410986496&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cleanest+race). ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/52 "2014-09-17T20:46:51Z")
Don’t blame me, blame Matt Parker and Trey Stone. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569/53 "2014-09-17T21:44:04Z")
During the hijacking fad the hijackers who went to Cuba wound up in Castro’s prisons, much to their surprise no doubt. I don’t recall any big effort to get them back. I’m with the we should say “pretty please, can we have our nutcase back?” and that is about it contingent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-assist-matthew-miller-in-north-korea/698569.md?page=2)