I, as anybody here have no sympathy for any oppressive regimes, and NK one is extreme out of extremes.
that said, journalist detained is an idiot. either completely incompetent and uninformed on what it actually means visiting such a regime (hard to believe), or just plain old ignorant bloated ego "I am above". from his own words on description of situation, I am not surprised he was detained, rather that he got out so easily from such a place.
I think you might need to do a bit more research on Rupert Wingfield-Hayes... he's neither an idiot, nor an attention seeker - indeed from the reports I've seen him do from various undesirable places on BBC News over the years, it appears he's a very competent journalist and not one who's afraid to be in a dangerous place to get a story out.
Did you actually read the comments that the DPRK officials made about his statements? Typical frame-up things, intentionally taking offence where none in particular was meant. There are plenty of things that RW-H could have said since being released which he appears not to have done.
The naivety of some of the comments on this thread is baffling to me. North Korea isn't a problem which is just going to go away. It's far more stable than the Syrian civil war, and that's been going on for years. NK could continue indefinitely by doing what it's doing.
if you write a rather insulting article about half of the countries in this world (probably most/all muslim ones, and all non-democratic ones), you can expect they might hit back when you visit again. surprise surprise - they did, and in rather standard (and non-violent) way for these regimes.
it's a ridiculous place, nobody argues about that. most folks have common sense and don't poke a lion in the eye with the stick in his own territory. would you? probably not. then why should I have any sympathy for this guy? he did exactly that, and his surprise when they detained him just shows what I've written - ignorance.
would you go to Iran and write before an article in BBC saying how their officers are idiots barking around? (i loved visiting that place, but common sense is needed, and this guy didn't show much).
Agreed. Like someone else said in the comments, this person is simply an attention seeker. It almost seems like he went to NK, didn't find any newsworthy stories and had to invent one to justify the trip. Not very good journalism.
that said, journalist detained is an idiot. either completely incompetent and uninformed on what it actually means visiting such a regime (hard to believe), or just plain old ignorant bloated ego "I am above". from his own words on description of situation, I am not surprised he was detained, rather that he got out so easily from such a place.