Finally, there is some movement in our government’s help in securing the

Finally, there is some movement in our government’s help in securing the release of US citizen, Kenneth Bae!

The United States will send its North Korean human rights envoy to Pyongyang this week to seek the release of an imprisoned and ailing U.S. Christian missionary, the State Department said on Tuesday.

Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, will travel to Pyongyang on Friday at the invitation of the government on a “humanitarian mission focused on securing the release of U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae,” the department said in a statement.

King will ask North Korea to “pardon Mr. Bae and grant him special amnesty on humanitarian grounds so that he can be reunited with his family and seek medical treatment,” it added.

The White House urged North Korea on Tuesday to grant Bae, who suffers diabetes among other conditions, clemency and allow him to return to the United States.

Asked about his mission, King told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday that Bae had health problems.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to make progress on that,” he said.

King was visiting Tokyo ahead of his Pyongyang trip to meet with senior Japanese government officials and lawmakers including Keiji Furuya, minister in charge of issues related to the abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea.

The release of Bae, which would remove an irritant in U.S. relations with North Korea, also would fit into a recent pattern of conciliatory steps by Pyongyang toward its neighbors.

In April, Bae was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after North Korea’s Supreme Court convicted him of state subversion. The court said Bae, 45, used his tourism business to form groups aimed at overthrowing the government.

Source Reuters