[arista]

This was on News all day
first the BBC said the students knew
now they have admitted they only found out hours before
leaving China for North Korea.

John Sweeney has been Very Cocky
claiming most students were ok about it.


But the LSE has other evidence
and want the BBC to pull the docu.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/me...aken-on-univer

http://news.sky.com/story/1077883/ls...udents-at-risk
Video Report

[arista]

Monday Front Pages

[joeysteele]

The BBC getting way too ahead of itself again arista.

[Niall]

I can understand the concern of the LSE, but the flagrant disregard by the DPRK of basic human rights and freedoms is something that needs to be exposed, even if it is through an undercover journalist on a regular tourist trip.

I really don't think that most people understand the scale of wrongdoing that the regime does over there, and moreover I'd say the media disconnects when it reports about that country. You only hear about their provocative acts, and not the hundreds of thousands of people they have hauled up in work camps across the nation, who are subject to many forms of cruel and inhumane torture. Factor in the near constant state-induced famine, constant bombardment of propaganda in all forms possible, lack of electricity, constant threat of arrest/execution at any time and then it becomes obvious to me at least, that this is something that should be rubbed in everyone's faces. People should be shown the cruel existence the North Koreans are forced into.

And besides, they all got out in the end didn't they? I know it was dangerous of the BBC to do what they did, but then again going to North Korea at all is a very dangerous move, isn't it?

[lostalex]

Originally Posted by Niall

I can understand the concern of the LSE, but the flagrant disregard by the DPRK of basic human rights and freedoms is something that needs to be exposed, even if it is through an undercover journalist on a regular tourist trip.

Do you honestly think that North Korea is taking a STUDENT GROUP to see all of their human rights abuses? of course not. The BBC still just got to film a propaganda trip. The BBC was not exposing any of the real human rights abuses in North Korea, so it's pointless. The whole thing was still organized by the government. Whether it was for Economic students or the BBC, the fact is it was organized by the government to make the government look good.

North Korea is probably happy that the BBC filmed this, cause the whole thing was a propaganda trip to begin with.

[Niall]

Originally Posted by lostalex

Do you honestly think that North Korea is taking a STUDENT GROUP to see all of their human rights abuses? of course not. The BBC still just got to film a propaganda trip. The BBC was not exposing any of the real human rights abuses in North Korea, so it's pointless.

North Korea is probably happy that the BBC filmed this, cause the whole thing was a propaganda trip to begin with.

I'm well aware of that. But sending someone in to the see the country at face value alone would show enough of the abuses carried out by the regime. The sheer indoctrinated nature of the people alone, is that not an abuse of basic human rights? What about the mass blackouts? The extremely primitive nature of the farms that Sweeney saw when being ferried between the state sanctioned tourist spots? It all gives a rare - and I'd say thought provoking - glimpse into the hermitic regime.

And I'd argue that this is all relevant now more than ever in the face of the North's renewed bluster. Instead of the media depicting them as this silly rogue state making preposterous comments, I think people also need to see the human side of everything too. The suffering that people go through over there should be shown - even if it is fleeting. I just don't believe that it's publicised enough at all.

[Livia]

If they're students at the LSE I'm guessing they're bright enough to understand the implications of a trip to North Korea. It's not Disneyland Paris... and how exactly are they being endangered? I'd be interested to hear what the students say.

[Z]

I just watched it. It was extremely interesting, though I'm almost surprised that they weren't rumbled for being journalists, they were hardly being conspicuous in their filming or the questions they were asking of the people they met. North Korea fascinates me. I think it's kind of irresponsible of the BBC to put students at risk with this, but no harm was done in the end so there's no point getting worked up over it. The students were endangered by having journalists in their midst, they would all be sent to the gulag if the journalists had been exposed, I'd have thought.