On one hand you have kids like Otto Warmbier who was arrested January 2016 during a study trip to North Korea for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster.
He was sentenced to 15 years hard labour but was returned to the U.S. in 2017, horribly injured and on the verge of death after suffering intense torture in prison.
Ont the other hand you got creeps like Matthew Miller who was actually trying to get arrested there and was apparently "looking forward" to being subjected to torture.
( his story doesn't sound right anyway )
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/20/-sp-north-korea-matthew-millerFor most people visiting North Korea, the prospect of being arrested during their trip is a source of some concern. But for 25-year old Californian Matthew Miller, it’s exactly what he hoped for.
“My main fear was that they would not arrest me when I arrived,”
“I was trying to stay in the country,” said Miller. “They wanted me to leave. The very first night they said, ‘We want you to leave on the next flight.’ But I refused. I just did not leave.”
On his flight from China to Pyongyang, Miller had intentionally damaged his tourist visa. Fifteen days later, after a series of run-ins with Pyongyang authorities, he was removed from his tourist hotel and detained.
Miller says it was only after much persuasion on his part that authorities finally took him in.
Finally, at a show trial in September, he was sentenced to six years of hard labour for entering the country illegally and committing “hostile acts” against the state – a charge he now describes as both true and false.
They wanted me to leave. The very first night they said, ‘We want you to leave on the next flight.’ But I refused. I just did not leave
Snapshots of pages torn from Miller’s notebook were circulated by state media, after his show trial, revealing statements he now describes as strategic lies to help with his attempt to remain in North Korea. In it, entries appeared to show support for removing “the American military from South Korea” and included claims that Miller was a “hacker” with some involvement with Wikileaks.
“I wrote the notebook in China just before going to North Korea,” said Miller. “The purpose was just having it written is easier than explaining in person. Since it was filled with a number of extravagant things… perhaps the notebook was a little too much over the top, they instantly knew it was false and wanted to know my true purpose of visiting.”
The true purpose, Miller insists, was to simply learn for himself what North Korea was all about.
“I was not there to give secret information or anything like that. I just wanted to speak to an ordinary North Korean person about normal things,” he said.
“I think it was mistake but it was successful,” he said over several days of interviews.
“I was in control of my situation. I knew the risks and consequences. My trip has probably resulted in no change for anyone, except for me. I do feel guilt for the crime. It was a crime. I wasted a lot of time of the North Koreans’ and the Americans’, of all of the officials who spent time with my case.”
Miller said he had prepared himself for the ordeal he believed he would face in detention, but was surprised by how well he was treated. He was allowed to keep possession of his iPhone and iPad for “at least a month” after his arrival in North Korea, enabling him to listen to music and access other stored information, although he could not use them to send or receive messages from elsewhere.
“This might sound strange, but I was prepared for the ‘torture’. But instead of that I was killed with kindness, and with that my mind folded and the plan fell apart,” he said, speaking from his home in California.
Miller said he was initially held in the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, where he said North Korean officials urged him to leave the country, but he refused.
I was not there to give secret information or anything like that. I just wanted to speak to an ordinary North Korean person about normal things
He was not formally detained until his third week in North Korea, when he was moved to what he described as a “guest house” – the same place where he said fellow American Kenneth Bae was being held – along with several other unidentified prisoners. Miller would ultimately stay there for five more months.
At the “guest house” he was kept in a room locked from the outside under stricter detention. “They would deliver me food. There were other prisoners in the guest house, too. I could hear them unlocking the doors from the outside to deliver them food,” he said.
After he was formally tried, convicted, and sentenced on 14 September to six years of “hard labour”, he was moved again to a more conventional prison facility on the outskirts of Pyongyang. “It was kind of a farm place,” Miller said. “They had all control. I would go out to work to move stones, take out weeds.”
As part of the show trial, Miller had apologised to the North Korean regime for his crimes, an apology he now insists was genuine.
“I wanted to meet North Korean people face to face in a way that a normal tour would not be enough,” said Miller.” I spent a good five months having many conversations with various people.”
Miller said he became particularly friendly with a translator he met on his first day in the country. “We met everyday and would have conversations. We would play billiards together.”
“He said he was a tour guide for five years and then moved up the ranks. He said he was with [former NBA player] Dennis Rodman during Kim Jong-un’s birthday. He said he travelled overseas on business trips. He spoke perfect English,” said Miller.
However, he is not yet ready to share the details of the other conversations he so desperately wanted.
“I might elaborate on that or I might just keep it as a personal experience,”
