American Vet Kidnapped by North Korea for Propaganda

by Jack Lee

By now most of America has heard the story of Merill Newman’s capture by the North Korean’s. He’s the 85 year old veteran of the Korean war who was taken hostage while on a tour of North Korea (aka DPRK).

Newman from Palo Alto was a former Colusa resident, who went on to Cal, then got his Masters at Stanford before enlisting in the Army. He served during the Korean war as the officer in charge of Kuwol partisan’s that fought the North Koreans behind the lines. They did a lot of damage and are still reviled by the DPRK.

Newman just completed a 10 day tour of North Korean when he was taken off his passenger plane 1 day before a scheduled goodwill meeting with some of the surviving Kuwol partisans in South Korea. Newman was charged with espionage and war crimes by the DPRK. This was Oct. 26th. And by Nov. 9th he appeared on North Korean television reading from his hand written statement. Newman confessed to numerous war crimes and apologized to the North Koreans. Upon completion of his confession he bowed to his captors. This confession is now on You Tube.

Newman was proud of his military service, but now he will have to live out what remains of his life with this humiliation. Many Americans think he’s a traitor for aiding the enemy by caving into their demands. However, I think this would be unfair. I do think Newman used incredibly poor judgment, possibly due to his age and there’s no getting around that. And yes, his actions led to another humiliating event for America, but he’s no traitor. Although one could argue that since he’s retired military and every military person knows POW’s are not allowed to give anything more than their name, rank and serial number. To do more is considered an act of treason, but it’s rarely pursued because our people were often times severely tortured for the [confession]. The DPRK considers the Korean war to still be unsettled since only a cease fire was signed, not a peace treaty.

Newman put himself in harms way and he was predictably arrested as a war criminal by the North Koreans. Why do I say, predictably? For starters, Newman volunteered his retired military ID card with his passport. There was no need to do that and it was a big help to intelligence agents doing the background on foreign travelers. Then he talked about his exploits with his travel guide (presumably a North Korean Agent) while inside North Korea. If that wasn’t enough, he had a well publicized reunion party arranged with former Kuwol guerrilla fighters when he returned to Seoul, South Korea. North Korea wasn’t please with his presence and to let him go back to celebrate with the Kuwol was too much. In their minds this guy had to be punished and the USA humiliated.  Part of this phoney confession read:  “I realize that I cannot be forgiven for my offensives (offenses) but I beg for pardon on my knees by apologizing for my offensives (offenses) sincerely toward the DPRK government and the Korean people, and I want not punish me.”   Doesn’t sound like the work of person with a masters degree from Standord does it? 

Of course Newman must bear responsibility for his descision to go to the DPRK that led to a forced confession, but also complicit in his travel plans was our Obama Administration and our Dept. of State.  They think it’s okay for Americans to travel into North Korea.   In 2010, North Korea changed its policy to allow U.S. travelers to visit on official guided tours. This has been like a license for provocations anytime the opportunity presented itself, as it certainly did in the case of Merill Newman.

Tourism is highly restricted by the DPRK and it can only be done with a guided tour by one of few approved companies like the state-run Korea International Travel Company that Newman used.

One would have rightly thought that given the provocations, threats of war and the hostage taking, that either the Bush or the Obama Administration would have halted travel to the DPRK.

Since Newman’s release two days ago, a former member of the Kuwol partisans asked, “Why did he go to North Korea?” Many of us are wondering that too?

Recently, we’ve seen a number of American’s kidnapped by DPRK for bogus reasons and held for propaganda purposes and this has required a former head-of-state to go there on bended knee to get them out. Now, along comes Newman and he was a personally delivered [gift] for the North Koreans propaganda machine.

P.S. This may be just my anger speaking, but I’m surprised Newman didn’t try to get pictures of himself standing on the captured USS Pueblo along with the North Koreans criminals that seized this Navy ship in international waters in 1968. The capture of the USS Pueblo was clearly an act of war. The American public has never been given a satisfactory explanation why we never retaliated.