He doesn’t want to come back and the US has zero leverage with DPRK. He’s not a hostage, he’s an asylum seeker. And better than that, he’s a US military member who has a personal grievance with not just the USA but also South Korea. This man is staying in Pyongyang and will be treated quite well.
Why, what do you think will happen? They’ll torture him? Imprison him for life? Make him eat gross foods? Work him to death? Like, what’s your orientalist fantasy here?
What kind of work will he eventually get there that will provide him with a decent quality of life? You think he will have the same level of freedom to move and say what he feels? Do you think he will get any justice if he is racially profiled or mistreated by any authority? Do you think he will have unrestricted access to even three internet?
Come on, this is fucking laughable. What kind of work will he get for a decent quality of life? What do you think NK is like? That some people live under bridges and pick garbage while others are doctors that drive Maseratis? That’s a USA thing. DPRK, like all socialist movements, is focused on raising up the bottom of society first and foremost. He will easily have a decent quality of life even as just an English teacher or as military staff.
Do you think he will get any justice if he is racially profiled or mistreated by any authority in the USA?! That’s one of his principle reasons for defecting! Are you aware of how much racial profiling happens daily in the USA and how very very little gets done about? Did the USA not just have a racial reckoning with the high profile lynching of dozens of individual black people? The Chauvin trial was one of the first ever where the cops suffered a consequebce and the cops on trial for lynchings after Floyd didn’t suffer consequences. You are projecting American anti-blackness into North Korea, but the anti-Blackness in South Korea comes from America, not from Korea. I’m sure he will suffer far and away less individual and structural racism in the DPRK than any black person will experience in the USA in the next 100 years.
Do you think you have unrestricted and free access to the internet? Do you know how many NSLs the USA has issued? Do you know how many DNS take overs have been executed? Do you know the history of COINTELPRO and how thoroughly it infiltrated black communities and likely still does to this day?
You are comparing your orientalist fantasy about the evil Korean commies against the propaganda narrative about the enlightened and virtuous West. None of your beliefs match reality.
Why do you think he will want to come back eventually? A bunch of soldiers have defected to the DPRK since the beginning of the Korean War. Some regret it, some don’t, some died. Why are you so sure he will want to come back when he knows that being black in the West will never change in his lifetime?
King, who joined the U.S. Army in January 2021, faced two allegations of assault in South Korea, and eventually pleaded guilty to one instance of assault and destroying public property for damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade against Koreans, according to court documents. He was due to face more disciplinary measures when he arrived back in the United States.
It’s just a hunch, but I believe he has more experience with racism than he’s willing to admit.
People who join the military aren’t exactly known for being smart.
Or more accurately, the military wouldn’t want you if you are too smart. They want the average person that can understand basic commands without being too smart to question it.
Not surprising at all that a military person decided to do this.
Edit: On the other hand. Maybe he’s actually a genius attempting a “becoming a propaganda tool” gambit. North Korea wouldn’t lose much for treating him good, and they can make him say things on camera about how “bad” the US is. As long as North Korea deems him useful, he might actually live a decent life. But thats dependent on North Korea doesn’t just decide to get rid of him once they decide that they don’t like him anymore.
lol what. You literally need to pass a test to join the military at all. And it's a pen-and-ink test with science, math and physics problems. Not a "can you follow commands" test.
they might maybe want meatheads for some positions but theres a lot you dont want meat heads for. like you dont want your nuclear techs to be meat heads.
Weird take. Plenty of people join the military because it’s their best immediate option career wise. As for the military not wanting you if you’re too smart - they try to recruit college educated people all the time and the higher you score on their exams the better. The US military is huge and diverse, I’m not sure I understand the point you’re making.
Strange thing, that asvab. The people in the Navy that scored the highest were also the dumbest. On top of that, the Navy told 'em to go play with all their nuclear toys.
Obeying a chain of command does not mean you have to be dumb. As a matter of fact, it is every person’s job in the military to report unlawful orders and not follow orders blindly.
Additionally, the entire command structure in most American branches is setup for each unit to operate somewhat independently. As an example, a general or admiral says: “I want those 10sq miles flattened by tomorrow and here is all the equipment it should take to do it.” Every division, unit or whatever, figures out how to do it. If they have problems, they can reassess the situation on the ground and report back up that a strategy is or is not working. Units on the ground can coordinate with other units to ensure a smooth attack.
In Russia, the chain of command doesn’t work like that. The generals will tell units what to do, and that is that: One unit attack from the east, the other from the west and hopefully they don’t start shooting at each other.
(I over-simplified a ton, but you get the idea.)
Also, the military absolutely wants you if you are too smart. The problem is, those smart people can get 20x the pay with half the shit in the private sector.
When I was in the Navy, two of my five years were spent in school learning electronics, radios and computers. (I slept through IT school since I could have probably taught the classes anyway.)
This used to happen occasionally during the cold war. US/NATO defecting to the USSR didn’t happen often, but it did happen occasionally.
You’ve already gotten read on that take on the military, so I’m not going to bother with that. I will say that it seems like this young person has some mental and behavioral issues, given his rank at his age and his disciplinary history. I would think he’s not someone who tends to make sound judgments or think things through.
In general, the military tries to actively avoid people with these kinds of issues, and will generally not reward this kind of behavior when it comes up. There are a lot of things you can point a finger at the military about with regard to behavior toward civilians or abuse within the ranks, but in this case it looks to me like things were more or less working, to the point that he decided to run away and join the circus.
I would put it another way. The military had a great number of members who are very smart and also very dumb. Some are going to make incredibly dumb decisions.
King, who joined the U.S. Army in January 2021, faced two allegations of assault in South Korea, and eventually pleaded guilty to one instance of assault and destroying public property for damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade against Koreans, according to court documents. He was due to face more disciplinary measures when he arrived back in the United States.
LOL. How come every black person didn’t try to free themselves from slavery? How come every black person didn’t become a civil rights activist? How come every black person didn’t march on Washington, become a conductor on the underground railroad, or join the Black Panthers?
Your grasp on what it means for an issue to be systemic is ridiculous.
Add comment