The US on Monday said it was ready to send an envoy to North Korea to bring back a jailed American after he appeared before reporters in Pyongyang pleading for his release.
Kenneth Bae, a missionary arrested in November 2012 and jailed for 15 years, admitted to wrongdoing and called on the US government to help secure his freedom so that he could return to his family “at the earliest possible date.”
US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington remained “very concerned” about Bae’s health and was actively working to release him.
Photo: Reuters
“We continue to urge the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] authorities to grant Bae amnesty and immediate release,” Psaki said.
Another US official who requested anonymity voiced hope that putting Bae in front of reporters signalled North Korea’s “willingness to release him.”
The official said that US Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues Robert King was prepared to bring Bae home.
“We have offered to send Ambassador King to Pyongyang to secure Mr Bae’s release. We have asked the North Koreans this, and await their early response,” the official said.
King had been invited to North Korea to discuss Bae’s case at the end of August last year, but Pyongyang rescinded the invitation at the 11th hour without explanation.
Bae, a Korean American also known as Pae Jun-ho, was arrested as he entered North Korea’s northeastern port city of Rason.
He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor last year on charges of seeking to topple the government.
Bae spoke on Monday to a small group of reporters in Pyongyang at what was described as a news conference.
The 45-year-old was dressed in a gray inmate’s uniform for the event, which lasted three-and-a-half minutes.
Bae apologized and acknowledged to participating in anti-government acts — a public confession that observers saw as a pre-requisite for any release.
US Vice President Joe Biden said recently that Bae had been jailed for no reason — a comment Bae appeared to allude to when he spoke of unhelpful comments that might block his release.
It was not possible to determine whether Bae had been coerced into holding the press conference, or to what extent his remarks were scripted for him.
A court in North Korea, which strictly controls religion, had described Bae as a militant Christian evangelist who had smuggled subversive material into the country and sought to establish a base in Rason.
Bae’s family, which has campaigned hard for his release, said they were encouraged to see him in “decent health,” but remained “gravely concerned” about his overall condition.
Addressing the leaders in Pyongyang, the statement said the family understood Bae had been convicted of crimes under North Korean law and “sincerely apologizes” on his behalf.
In the past, North Korea has released detained Americans after visits by former US presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
There is no US embassy in Pyongyang and the only American to have had any regular contact with the new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is the former NBA star Dennis Rodman.
North Korea has, in recent months, sought to push the US into agreeing to resume six-party talks on the North’s nuclear program, but Washington insists Pyongyang must first show a tangible commitment to denuclearization.
In Seoul yesterday, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said the US shared South Korean concerns about “further reckless behavior and provocations in the future” from the North.
North Korea recently released another American, 85-year-old Merrill Newman, a few weeks after the Korean War veteran was pulled away during an organized tour and accused of crimes against the regime.
Newman made a videotaped confession in stilted English that he later said was involuntary.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia