Americans held in North Korea issue plea for help
Print Edition
THREE United States citizens held in North Korea pleaded yesterday for help to secure their release but said they have been well treated in the country.
“Continue to pray for me,” Kenneth Bae, the longest-held detainee, said in a message to family and friends, asking them to work for his release. But he added he had been treated “as humanely as possible.”
Bae, Jeffrey Fowle and Matthew Miller were speaking to CNN at a hotel in Pyongyang.
Bae was arrested in November 2012 and later sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor on charges of seeking to topple the North Korean government.
Fowle, 56, entered North Korea on April 29 and was arrested after reportedly leaving a Bible at a hotel. He said he has “no complaints” about his treatment.
“It’s been very good so far, and I hope and pray that it continues, while I’m here two more days or two more decades.”
Miller, 24, was arrested in April after he apparently ripped up his visa at immigration and demanded asylum.
North Korea said in July it would put Miller and Fowle on trial on unspecified charges related to “perpetrating hostile acts.”
Miller pleaded for help from the US government.
“My situation is very urgent, that very soon I am going to trial, and I would directly be sent to prison,” he said, adding he would not learn the charges until he goes on trial.
All three men said they signed statements admitting their guilt, CNN reported.
Bae told the network he was working eight hours a day, six days a week at a labor camp.
North Korea, which tightly controls religious expression, accused Bae of being a militant Christian evangelist and charged him with seeking to topple the government.
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