> North Korea can take you with whatever justification they feel like and return you as a vegetable.

That’s most/all countries (or their embassies) you visit, no?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khash...

A big political enemy of the saudi family that been a pain in their ass (rightly so since they are an evil dictatorship) vs random student that just took a poster as a souvernir.

Not the same thing. Anyone can be killed in North Korea. 99,99999999999% of people are not on the saudi familys enemy list.

> random student that just took a poster as a souvernir.

Let's not mince words here, he stole government property in a country with some of the harshest laws on earth.

Did he deserve to die for it? No, but it was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

His fellow travelers say this was impossible, the “recording” was fake, and the timestamps are at a time when he wasn’t even in the hotel. Why would you assume n. Korea is being honest here?

I would not say that I would assume that North Korea is being honest but what makes you think that his fellow travelers are being honest either?

His fellow travelers were from many different countries

One might even argue that the stupidity began when he decided to visit NK.

yeah for sure, because otherwise NK has fantastic relations with USA!

Nice victim blaming.

It's no more victim blaming than being honest about what happens to people who visit Singapore with pot.

I don't think it really makes sense to talk about "laws" for places like North Korea, as it's not a rule of law state.

Perhaps, but Saudi Arabia is pretty close to North Korea as far as my desire to ever visit the place. Both of them are extremely unappealing.

> assassination by western trade partner VS assassination by isolated country

Not the same thing!!!

Is an airplane the same thing as a car? After all, they both have wheels.

I’m sure some countries are more willing to treat guests to the vegetable treatment than others.

Other countries have a larger denominator to reduce the proportion of visits vs arbitrary detention and torture.

I feel a lot better about my chances in pretty much any other country than NK.

I am sorry but if you travel somewhere like Iran or North Korea you are doing so explicitly against the advice of most governments. Every single person visiting these places is told that they need to keep their shit together, otherwise the consequences could be dire for them or for those they come into contact with.

Iran doesn't chill my blood in the same way imagining being in North Korea does. I have no desire to go there. I wouldn't go if offered. It still strikes me as a more or less rational country that stridently disagrees with my own country's politics (and my own), not a boot stamping on a human face — forever.

Honestly I’d still like to visit both (particularly Iran) and I know people who have. But there is definitely advice you need to heed in both places (tbh in all places…)

I've been to both and can report a positive experience. The DPRK trip was fascinating. The thing I remember most about Iran is how friendly everyone was to us.

If you've been to South Korea (and I haven't, only have a bunch of friends who have), was there anything fascinating about North Korea that you couldn't have gotten from South Korea and that didn't hinge on how messed up North Korea is? Genuinely curious.

> was there anything fascinating about North Korea that you couldn't have gotten from South Korea

yes, a different perspective.

EDIT/ADD:

Witness one of the world’s most secretive states, firsthand experience of a communist regime, dynastic leadership, and a pervasive cult of personality.

If you’d like to see a pervasive cult of personality in South Korea, check out the Unification Church.

Iran is a bucket list country for me. The politics are a disaster, obviously, but it's an amazing, deep culture. The government of Iran is a disaster, but it's a real, functioning country, in ways North Korea isn't.

Ironically, Iran is probably much more dangerous than North Korea is (not least because you apparently basically can't do anything in North Korea), at least for an American. But like, if you want Korean culture, fly to Seoul and rent a car. I don't know how you get Iran's culture without actually going there.

I met plenty of Americans in both Iran and North Korea. American tourists often receive extra interest and admiration from the locals, who express a genuine warmth and fascination towards them.

Oh, 100% my understanding as well! Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that ordinary people in like Tehran were hostile to Americans, but I can see how it came across that way.

Add Afghanistan to that list. Some Austrian far-right dumbass went there to make a YouTube video to claim Afghanistan were safe (obviously to justify deporting refugees there) - and lo behold, he got arrested by the Taliban on espionage charges and ultimately released after 9 extensive months of negotiations [1].

[1] https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/ausland/oesterreich-r...