WASHINGTON/SEATTLE, Aug 28: The United States will send its North Korean human rights envoy to Pyongyang this week to seek the release of an imprisoned US Christian missionary, the State Department said.
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 US citizen Kenneth Bae,” the department said in a statement yesterday.
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 yesterday to grant Bae clemency and allow him to return to the United States.
The release of Bae, which would remove an irritant in US 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.
Bae was detained in November as he led a tour group through the northern region of the country. His sentencing came amid acrimonious relations between Pyongyang and Washington over the reclusive state’s nuclear program.
Bae’s sister, Terri Chung, told Reuters on Aug. 10 that her brother had been held at a prison for foreigners and put to work plowing and planting fields.
He was transferred to a state hospital because he suffered from a range of health problems, including an enlarged heart, chronic diabetes as well as back and leg pain, she said.
North Korea has used the release of high-profile American prisoners as a means of garnering prestige or recognition, rather than economic gain, by portraying visiting dignitaries as paying homage to the country and its leader.
That pattern has complicated the response from US lawmakers and the State Department, which has called for Bae’s immediate release on “humanitarian grounds,” but had resisted sending high-profile envoys to negotiate. (AGENCIES)
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