What did Lester Holt expect them to do? He is on a choreographed tour of the Masik Ski Resort that the Kim regime has been heavily marketing. The regime clearly wants this resort to be part of a future tour scheme to bring in foreign currency and NBC News is giving them free advertising:
NBC News’ Lester Holt arrived in North Korea over the weekend, broadcasting a segment from a ski resort that will soon host athletes from both North and South Korea training for the upcoming winter Olympics.
Holt is catching some flack for a statement he made during one report that aired on Monday. “We have been treated with respect here,” Holt said.
North Korea notoriously keeps a strict lid on press inside the country, and it’s likely Holt’s broadcast was subject to tight rules and restrictions. Previous reports, like this one from VICE, have noted how certain elements of their trip seemed choreographed.
Holt even says during his broadcast that the ski resort “certainly a part [North Korea] would like us to see.”
The NBC team flew into the country from Beijing, China on North Korea’s state airline, Holt said. The security check at the airport in North Korea was so stringent that they checked novels people brought along to read, and even one crew member’s toothbrush. [Business Insider]
I hope Thae Yong Ho has protection from stopping two women approaching him from behind with VX while walking around streets of Seoul pic.twitter.com/7VPC67zLee
— NorthKoreaRealTime (@BuckTurgidson79) April 3, 2017
Here is a good interview that NBC News’ Lester Holt did with prominent North Korean defector Thae Yong-ho who has to be number on Kim Jong-un’s kill list:
Lester Holt walks the streets of Seoul with Thae Yong-ho
A senior North Korean defector has told NBC News that the country’s “desperate” dictator is prepared to use nuclear weapons to strike the United States and its allies.
Thae Yong Ho is the most high profile North Korean defector in two decades, meaning he is able to give a rare insight into the secretive, authoritarian regime.
According to Thae, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is “desperate in maintaining his rule by relying on his [development of] nuclear weapons and ICBM.” He was using an acronym for intercontinental ballistic missiles — a long range rocket that in theory would be capable of hitting the U.S.
“Once he sees that there is any kind of sign of a tank or an imminent threat from America, then he would use his nuclear weapons with ICBM,” he added in an exclusive interview on Sunday.
Thae was living in London and serving as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom when he and his family defected to South Korea and were announced to the world in August. [NBC News]
You can read more at the link as well as video from NBC News.
In the rest of the interview Thae confirms what many have suspected that Kim Jong-un is moving rapidly forward with his nuclear and missile programs because of what he saw happen with Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. Thae also confirms my long held view that Kim Jong-un is not crazy, but instead what he is doing is rational from his perspective. Thae describes Kim as someone who will do whatever it takes to hold on to power to include purges and killing of family members.
Thae also advocates for fighting the information war within North Korea which is something I have been advocating for years. He believes that the more educated people within North Korea become the more likely it is that at some point they may rise up against the regime.
The more I listen to Thae the more I keep thinking that maybe he should become the leader of a North Korean government in exile to further challenge the legitimacy of the Kim regime.
NBC News is going to be putting the spotlight on USFK this week:
NBC’s Lester Holt will anchor Nightly News from South Korea Monday and Tuesday for what NBC calls “unprecedented access to the U.S. military’s combined air, ground and naval capabilities.”
Holt’s reporting trip comes as tensions rise in the region and a day after Defense Secretary Mattis said North Korea must be stopped from its ability to threaten a nuclear attack. [TVNewser, hat tip Jodi]
