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by saiya-jin 1024 days ago
I don't think that South Korea would fall into this category, its pretty well developed and western-style democracy (with some strong nepotic powers at place but ultimately even they are not untouchable).

If you would be invited to say Philippines, Indonesia (which covers Bali too), Myanmar, Laos etc. that should raise an eyebrow.
1 comments
rolph 1024 days ago
just because someone says you are being taken to a particular place doesnt mean thats where you will end up.
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PeterisP 1024 days ago
That's not how international travel works until you totally leave civilization; no matter who's paying for the trip, you do know where you're going, and each individual has a choice at every border crossing; they can't simply "export" a box filled with people on a plane that's going "somewhere".
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rolph 1024 days ago
Thats only if they play by the rules and everyone is honest and unfettered by coercion.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37327558

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mcpackieh 1024 days ago
Yeah, but if you're a westerner being taken on a trip to South Korea, read your plane ticket to see if that's actually were you're going.

If the deal is more akin to "get in this van and my guy will take you to where you need to go", then that's another story.

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bonestamp2 1024 days ago
> get in this van and my guy will take you to where you need to go

That could have been their pickup from the airport.

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mcpackieh 1023 days ago
Well South Korean is a peninsula, effectively an island, so you're probably fairly safe there if you don't agree to get on somebody's boat or plane. Accepting a plane ticket to a country like South Korea just isn't very risky. Where you might get into trouble is accepting somebody's invitation to smuggle you across a border, or being taken to a country where the rule of law is in doubt or where you could be driven across a border into such a country.
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rolph 1024 days ago
once your in the air you are effectively detained.

a large number of situations, contrived or otherwise, can result in emergency diversions.

you may want to be sure a connecting flight is legitimate when travelling in 'suspect' regions.

this would be high profile kidnapping, but a source of non SEA persons, that would be more convincing, and a source of international ransom revenues, espescially if they were also accused of some crime.

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mcpackieh 1023 days ago
An airliner being diverted for a kidnapping might happen if a country were trying to nab you, but that isn't a realistic scenario for a criminal gang to orchestrate.
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