This should be unacceptable--and not in the administration way of just meaning they'll keep saying it is unacceptable until something happens or its press secretary can claim it is just something that happened a long time ago:
A Korean American detained for six months in North Korea has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for "hostile acts" against the state, the North's media said Thursday — a move that could trigger a visit by a high-profile American if history is any guide.
Kenneth Bae, a Washington state man described by friends as a devout Christian and a tour operator, is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some after trips to Pyongyang by prominent Americans, including former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Instead of a visit by a high-profile American, let's visit North Korea with high-altitude bombers who will start bombing important targets under our sentence of 15 years of getting their asses kicked until Ken Bae is home safe.
Or if it is former presidents that North Korea wants, we can send Dwight D. Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, or George H.W. Bush.
America should want Ken Bae alive or Kim Jong-un dead.
UPDATE: Are we really eager to see what North Korea will be like when they have nuclear weapons that can reach us?
North Korea's continuing development of nuclear technology and long-range ballistic missiles will move it closer to its stated goal of being able to hit the United States with an atomic weapon, a new Pentagon report to Congress said on Thursday.
We'll all be Ken Bae, then.
We really need Ken alive and Kim dead.
UPDATE: Related information on North Korea's military developments.
UPDATE: Related:
For too many years, inadvertently, we have been creating incentives for North Korea to detain Americans, and to prevent the seizure of others, we need to be clear that we will no longer give the regime what it craves. In this ugly game, the most valuable thing we can confer on the North Korean state is the thing it needs the most, namely an aura of legitimacy.
At some point soon, Washington has to stop playing Let’s-Grab-an-American.
The last thing we should do is help the callow - and dangerous - Kim continue his rule.
Like I said, Ken Bae alive and Kim Jong-un dead
