SF hears: N. Korea will free prisoners for Kim Jong Il's birthday (photos, video)
Top news here in San Francisco is that in North Korea, according to the Telegraph newspaper in the UK, an announcement has been made that some prisoners in North Korea will be pardoned and set free.
The special pardons are being given to honor what would have been the 70th birthday of Kim Jong Il next month, had the president lived.
San Francisco resident, Glenda Lew, says, "Depending on the crime committed, it sounds like it's a good thing that prisoners will be let go."
Kim Jong Il passed away and the country was grief-stricken. There was a mass tribute paid to him. (See that article here: SF learns: Mass tribute to N Korea's Kim Jong-il (photos, video)
The Telegraph sees the release of prisoners as an attempt by North Korea to stimulate the popularity of Kim Jong Il's heir, Kim Jong Un.
No mention of the number of prisoners who would be freed was given by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
And no announcement was made as to what kinds of crimes would be pardoned.
In that past, North Korea has given pardons in order to celebrate major holidays, but this has not happened in the past six years.
According to the UN envoy on human rights, says newser.com, there could be as many as 200,000 political prisoners in North Korean detention camps. Pyongyang has denied that such camps exist.
Newser.com says that one, unnamed, South Korean researcher has stated: "Public sentiments aren't very good, so the authorities aimed to appease them."
Despite some hopes to the contrary from the West, North Korea has already announced that it will not change. (See that article here: SF hears: North Korea won't change (photos, video))
Instead, there may be unstable times ahead. (See that article here: SF learns: Kim Jong-il died, unstable times ahead (photos, video))
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See the left-hand side for photos and video on this topic. The video shows the mass hysteria that was seen over the death of Kim Jong-Il. This video has been viewed by over 7.5 million people on Youtube.com
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