{"id":15378,"date":"2013-05-02T00:05:02","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T00:05:02","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-15T12:14:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T12:14:45","slug":"nkorea-sentences-american-us-calls-for-his-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=15378","title":{"rendered":"NKorea sentences American, US calls for his release"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Korea sentenced a detained American to 15 years of \u201ccompulsory labor,\u201d punishment for what Pyongyang describes as an attempt to overthrow its government.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a brief statement released by its state-run news agency, the North said the sentence for Kenneth Bae, a tour operator from Washington state, had been handed down by its Supreme Court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Bae\u2019s punishment complicates the decision-making for Washington, which had been hoping to open talks with the North only if Pyongyang showed signs of curbing its weapons program. <\/strong>The North has detained six Americans since 2009, using them in some cases to leverage high-profile rescue trips from former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n

Bae was arrested last November while traveling with a small group in Rason, a special economic zone. <\/strong>The North has provided few specifics about Bae\u2019s actions there, but activists in Seoul speculate he was perhaps found with pictures of hungry children.<\/p>\n

Members from the Swedish embassy met with Bae last Friday, a U.S. State Department spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are explicitly calling for the release of this U.S. citizen immediately on humanitarian grounds,\u201d the spokesman, Patrick Ventrell, said Monday.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s Yonhap news agency reported Thursday that former President Carter is considering a trip to Pyongyang,<\/strong> both to push for the resumption of dialogue and negotiate the release of Bae. Carter wrote a latter recently to Secretary of State John F. Kerry expressing his interest, the Yonhap report said. <\/p>\n

Source AP<\/em>
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