CEO Eric Schmidt: Over the past few days, we have published a couple of updates on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Eric Schmidt and his visit to North Korea. If you want to read these updates before moving forward with the rest of this story, check out the following articles:
Google Inc’s Schmidt Touches Down in North Korea – What Now?
Google Inc Executives Touring North Korea
Earlier today, Fox News released an update on the story we have been following for the past few days:
“A private delegation including Google’s Eric Schmidt is urging North Korea to allow more open Internet access and cellphones to benefit its citizens, the mission’s leader said Wednesday in the country with some of the world’s tightest controls on information.”
“Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday that his nine-member group also called on North Korea to put a moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests that have prompted U.N. sanctions and asked for fair and humane treatment for an American citizen detained there.”
As you can see, Schmidt and his team are discussing everything from internet and cellphone usage to political unrest between the country and the rest of the world.
While there is no denying the importance of bringing the internet to everybody in the world, Schmidt has put himself in an unenviable position. Not only is he attached to one of the biggest internet companies in the world, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), but making this trip was not necessarily in the best interest of the United States.
Here is more on this from the same Fox News article:
“The visit has been criticized for appearing to hijack U.S. diplomacy and boost Pyongyang’s profile after North Korea’s latest, widely condemned rocket launch.”
It will be interesting to see if any good comes from this trip. While there is no doubt that Schmidt, Richardson and the rest of the traveling party has good intentions, nobody really knows where things are headed.
Richardson was quoted in an interview with the Associated Press as saying:
“The citizens of the DPRK (North Korea) will be better off with more cellphones and an active Internet. Those are the … messages we’ve given to a variety of foreign policy officials, scientists” and government officials.”
Although this trip by Schmidt and others is not sponsored by Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), the search giant continues to be pulled into the conversation. What are your thoughts on this?
Check back here for more updates on CEO Eric Schmidt.
DISCLOSURE: I have no positions in any stock mentioned.
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