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Matthew Todd Miller sure does sound like a weird person.

James Pearson and Ju-Min Park of Reuters have unearthed the fact that Miller lived in South Korea for several months, pretending to be a British person named “Preston Somerset,” and working on his magnum opus — an “Alice In Wonderland” anime project.

I guess “Sir Trevor Biggleswade-Duxbury, CBE” was already taken by a comic store clerk from Rancho Cucamonga.

Since then, Suspected British Person James Pearson and Confirmed British Person Chad O’Carroll of NK News have published some of Miller’s pictures. Your reaction to those pictures will vary according to your sensibilities, but “ewww” would be a valid one. Then again, if you’d lived near Lewis Carroll himself back in the day, you might have reacted the same way to him.

There is a part of me that says things like this aren’t relevant to the national interest in getting a U.S. citizen out of North Korea, no matter how unwelcome that citizen would be in my neighborhood. And then I remembered how much it mattered to people when we ransomed out Bo Bergdahl.

I wonder how Miller’s interrogators are taking all of that in.

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Update: Mr. Pearson writes in to out himself as another Confirmed, Actual British Person. It was the use of “whilst” in an email that gave him away. I’m not even sure why that word still exists.

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5 Responses

  1. You like creepy speculation, unrelated to North Korea? After the Civil War, Robert E Lee’s daughters lived with him and never married. What kind of relationship did they have?

  2. @I wonder how Miller’s interrogators are taking all of that in

    I can’t see that mattering. He’ll get the same treatment as any unfortunate individual unlucky enough to get arrested in North Korea. If the regime thinks you’re guilty, you’re guilty. You could be a clown for all they care.

  3. Having seen a fair amount of anime, the pics don’t seem that weird to me. It’s invariably what you’d end up with if you tasked someone to make anime-style pictures of Alice in Wonderland.

    I guess we should be glad there aren’t tentacles in Alice in Wonderland, however.

  4. This boy certainly seems to have substantial mental issues. But, I think anyone who sets foot in North Korea has a few screws loose. Including, and especially, the religious zealots who risk their own personal freedom, and the well being of their families when they evangelize there.