Free Republic

PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korea on Sunday presented to the media an American man who says he illegally crossed into the country but has not been put into custody and is seeking asylum in Venezuela. Arturo Pierre Martinez, 29, of El Paso, Texas, said he entered North Korea by crossing the river border with China. Details of how and when he got into the country were not immediately clear. In his comments to reporters, Martinez strongly criticized the U.S. for alleged human rights violations. "The illegal war carried out against the nation of Iraq serves as a perfect example...

A North Korean defector gives a horrible account of how people with mental or physical disabilities are seen as a stain on the nation's image and are therefore used for performing experiments before being deliberately neglected until they die. "Disabled children are being taken away, suffering indescribable things and dying," said Ji Seong-ho, who escaped North Korea in 2006 after losing his left leg above the knee and his left hand at the wrist. Ji, the founder of the organization Now, Action, Unity, Human Rights, or NAUH, who was in London this week to protest outside the North Korean embassy,...

American in North Korea denounces U.S., seeks Venezuela asylum: media Reuters 2:54 a.m. EST, December 14, 2014 A U.S. citizen who illegally entered North Korea delivered a lengthy denunciation of U.S. domestic and foreign policy on Sunday and said he was seeking political asylum in Venezuela, the North's official media said. The man identified himself as Arturo Pierre Martinez, 29, from El Paso, Texas, in video footage of a press conference released by the North's KCNA news agency and said he had taken "a risky journey to reach the (North) so that I could pass along some very valuable and...

TOKYO — Just weeks after three Americans detained in North Korea were released, a United States citizen has shown up in the repressive state, appearing on television to denounce his home country as a “Mafia enterprise” and call American democracy “an illusion”. Although details remain sketchy, it seems that the man, Arturo Pierre Martinez of El Paso, Texas, willingly went to North Korea and he says he is not being detained. At a press conference in Pyongyang Sunday morning, Martinez vigorously criticized the United States for alleged human rights violations. “The illegal war carried out against the nation of Iraq...