Journalists set up their camera to cover WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who was brought to court to enter a plea deal, in Saipan, Mariana Islands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, centre, is escorted to a vehicle as he leaves the federal court in Saipan, Mariana Islands, Wednesday, June 26 2024.
The so-called “Caribbean of the Western Pacific” has traditionally been a vacation spot for Japanese, Korean and Chinese tourists escaping wintry weather at home, said Mark Rabago, editor of the Saipan Tribune, a weekday newspaper. Accommodation providers, restaurants, law enforcement and tourism officials had “literally less than 24 hours” to prepare for the influx, said Christopher Concepcion, managing director of the Marianas Visitors Authority. Police officers were deployed to the airport and the courthouse as the“We’re used to seeing a bunch of tourists from east Asia, but seeing international media descend on the island all at once, if you will, has been an interesting phenomenon,” Concepcion said.
Before the notorious murder extradition case in 2008, the last time Saipan made world news was when the Japanese emperor and empress visited sites of military significance in 2005, said Rabago of the Saipan Tribune. Steeped in WWII history, the island was the site ofBanzai Cliff became known as Suicide Cliff after the mass suicides of soldiers and civilians jumping off the cliff at the end of the Battle of Saipan in the summer of 1944, when Japan was headed toward World War II defeat.