Robert Park

After 43 days in North Korea, Robert Park returned to America this past Saturday (Feb. 6) after the North Korean government released him from their custody. 

For those of you who don't know, Robert Park crossed the Tumen River from China to North Korea, carrying a letter for Kim Jong Il this past Christmas, risking execution. 

No one knows for sure what happened after that, but upon his release, the official Central News Agency in North Korea claims that Park had admitted that he had made a mistake. Supposedly he quotes: "I would not have committed such crime if I had known that the (North) respects the rights of all the people and guarantees their freedom and they enjoy a happy and stable life." He also is quoted saying that he even visited a church in North Korea with complete religious freedom for all. 

Stepping off the plane, Park's face was downcast and he would not respond to any questions. Read the whole article here: Missionary Who Was Held In N. Korea Arrives In US

Until Robert Park himself is able to admit his so-called "mistake" in questioning North Korea's limits of religious freedom, I can't help but to think of his quote in North Korean news as nothing more than propaganda. Even North Korean citizens who have escaped successfully can give first-hand accounts of the horrors they have faced through poverty and famine or having been born and raised in a concentration camp.


So was he brain-washed? Tortured? Put into a concentration camp? No one can really say for sure but even looking at his eerie, shriveled face tells some kind of disturbing story. It makes me wonder... what really happened to Robert Park?