My name is Daniel. I was an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, and am now a writer who has

published three books including South Korea: Our Story by Daniel Nardini.

                           The newspaper Korea Times mentioned that an American student named Otto

Warmbier, who had been detained by the North Korean government while visiting North Korea, was "allowed"

to return to the United States. What was not mentioned in the newspaper was that he may be in a coma

and that he had been brutally treated in North Korea. We really do not know what happened to him, but we

all have to be concerned with what has happened to him. We only know that he was a healthy 21 year old

man and is returning to the United States less than healthy. There are just too many questions surrounding

what happened to him. Hopefully, we will get answers. But all of this raises one very important question:

is it safe to go to North Korea? The answer seems to be "no." I do NOT recommend any American, any

Canadian, any Japanese, any South Korean to go to North Korea. Maybe nothing will happen to that

individual person, but is the risk worth it? I personally do not want to see any American or South Korean

family being told that something terrible happened to their loved ones in North Korea, and that there is

nothing anyone can do about it. On a personal note, I was in Cuba, China, the former Soviet Union and

the former East Germany. I was nearly not let out of Cuba, and I nearly got killed in China, so there

are VERY SERIOUS risks of visiting certain countries simply because they are under one-party rule

and are accountable to no one. North Korea is definitely in the category. I used to tell my former South

Korean students and South Korean friends not to go to North Korea for whatever reason. I say this in

all due sincerity for all---there are many, many more wonderful and safe places to go to in this world.