Regime Change 4 Dummies

I fell about laughing at the news reports on Kenneth Bae - the young American charged with plotting to bring down the world's only Stalinist Monarchy - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Now I know you should laugh at other people's misfortune - but it does seem to me that  Kenneth was a few egg sandwiches short of a decent picnic - because he's been going back and forward to North Korea for several years trying to spread his crazy fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

Which is just asking for trouble - if you ask me - though it hardly justifes the 'sledgehammer to crack a nut' approach of the authorities in DPRK who have sentenced the proselytising American to 15 years in jail.

According to state media the reason for this over the top sentence is that Kenneth Bae led a long-running plot to overthrow the Pyongyang regime - would you believe.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published details of the charges after  Kenneth Bae was convicted earlier this month - following a 'closed hearing' of his case the country’s supreme court.

The news agency said:

“He committed such hostile acts as egging on citizens of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] overseas and foreigners to perpetrate hostile acts to bring down its government while conducting a malignant smear campaign against it. He was caught red-handed and prosecuted after entering Rason City of the DPRK with anti-DPRK literature.”

According to the Korean-language version of the press statement the incriminating materials included a copy of a 2007 National Geographic documentary entitled ' Don’t tell my mother I’m in North Korea' - made by an undercover film-maker.

KCNA also claimed that Kenneth Bae was in charge of “Operation Jericho” - an undercover plot to bring down the Government through religious activities.

So, there you have it - Kenneth Bae was going to bring down the state apparatus of the DPRK with a few leaflets, a National Geographic video and an obesession with spreading the word of Christianity.

Sounds more like Regime Change for Dummies rather than James Bond and 007 - if you ask me, but the paranoia of the KCNA in DPRK knows no bounds apparently - and their statement continued:

"He (Kenneth Bae) was dispatched to China as a missionary of the international church missionary group with a long mission in April 2006." 

"After setting up plot-breeding bases disguised with diverse signboards in different parts of China for the past six years, avoiding the eyes of its security organs, he brought together more than 1,500 citizens of the DPRK, China and foreigners before whom he gave anti-DPRK lectures."

"He invited even South Korean pastors hell-bent on the moves to escalate confrontation with compatriots to give lectures for malignantly slandering the ... socialist system in the DPRK and instigating them to the acts to bring down its Government."

The only thing I would say in DPRK's defence is that Kenneth Bae doesn't appear to have been wrapped too tight either - because he is a committed Christian evangelist and in a sermon found by the news website NK News he said:

"I knew that Jesus wanted me to be a channel to the North."

And just to complete the madness, the celebrity baksetball player and former Big Brother housemate - Denis Rodman - who has formed an unlikely friendship with North Korea's young leader - Kim Jong-un - tweeted a request that his new chum (and Supreme Leader) "give me a solid" - a slang term for "do me a favour" by relasing the young American.

So I will add my voice to that of Denis Rodman - for what it's worth.

Let the poor boy go Kim Jong-un - do us all a favour - especially as his Mom doesn't even know that he went to North Korea in the first place.