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There were 11 American hostages released from North Korea during the Obama administration:
Euna Lee
Laura Ling
Robert Park
Aijalon Gomes
Eddie Yong Su Jun
Merrill Newman
Jeffrey Fowle
Kenneth Bae
Matthew Miller
Sandra Suh
Arturo Pierre Martinez
University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier released from North Korea
University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier released from North Korea
University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier from suburban Cincinnati, was sentenced to a 15 year hard labor sentence in North Korea for charges of attempted theft. The claim was made that Otto tried to steal a propaganda sign, back in January of 2016 from the Yanggakdo International Hotel. Otto has since been held as a prisoner in North Korea, for 17 months. Otto was in North Koreas with the…
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North Korea detained a U.S. citizen on Friday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, bringing the total number of Americans held by the isolated country to three.
(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWndcz4TGXQ)
North Korea Says Not to Free U.S. Citizens Until Former Detainee Stops ‘Babbling’
Reuters, June 20, 2016
SEOUL--North Korea will not negotiate with the United States over two American citizens it is holding until former detainee Kenneth Bae stops publicly talking about his time in prison, state media said on Monday.
Criticized over its human rights record for years, North Korea has made use of detained Americans in the past to extract high-profile visits from the United States, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations.
North Korea arrested Bae, a U.S. missionary, in November 2012 and sentenced him to 15 years’ hard labor for crimes against the state.
He was released two years later and has written an account of his detention in a memoir released in May. Since then, Bae has spoken about his experiences at several public appearances and given interviews to promote the book.
During his detention, Bae said, he realized he had become a “negotiating tool” for the North Koreans, some of whom he described as “brainwashed” in a recent interview in South Korea with a defector-run group that broadcasts into the North.
“As long as Kenneth Bae continues his babbling, we will not proceed with any compromise or negotiations with the United States on the subject of American criminals, and there will certainly not be any such thing as humanitarian action,” the North’s KCNA news agency said.
“If Bae continues, U.S. criminals held in our country will be in the pitiful state of never being able to set foot in their homeland once again”.
Pyongyang is holding two U.S. citizens, both of whom it has tried and sentenced to hard labor.
In March, Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old student of the University of Virginia, was sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda banner bearing the name of former leader Kim Jong Il.
In April, a North Korean court convicted Korean-American missionary Kim Dong Chul of crimes against the state and sentenced him to 10 years’ hard labor.
Last year, Canadian missionary Hyeon Soo Lim was sentenced to hard labor for life for subversion of the state.
The United States and Canada both strongly advise citizens not to travel to North Korea. This May, the U.S. State Department said Americans who traveled there despite the warnings risked “unduly harsh sentences”.
Man Detained In North Korea Had 30 Guards To Himself — And They All Wanted To Know About America
http://dlvr.it/LPMgc3
Kenneth Bae: ‘735 days in North Korea was long enough’
By Holly Yan, CNN, May 2, 2016
(CNN) Kenneth Bae spent almost two years performing grueling work for the North Korean regime--and had another decade of hard labor ahead of him.
But he’s no longer shoveling coal and hauling rocks. Instead, the American sat down with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Monday for his first live interview since his 2014 release.
“I’m thankful every day and grateful for so many people that were involved in trying to get me home,” Bae said. “It’s unreal just to see that I’m actually sitting in the studio talking to you ... 735 days in North Korea was long enough. But I’m thankful.”
Bae was the longest-held U.S. citizen detained in North Korea since the Korean War. In 2013, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for committing unspecified “hostile acts” in the country.
“I worked from 8 a.m. to 6 pm. at night, working on the field, carrying rock, shoveling coal,” Bae said on CNN’s “New Day.”
Adding to the physical pain was the verbal abuse he received from North Korean officials, Bae said.
He said one prosecutor repeatedly told him, “‘No one remembers you. You have been forgotten by people, your government. You’re not going home anytime soon. You’ll be here for 15 years. You’ll be 60 before you go home.’”
Still, Bae held out hope.
“I certainly hoped when I was in North Korea ... that some day I’ll be able to come home and celebrate with the friends and family that have been praying, rooting for my release,” he said.
His wish came true in November 2014 after a top U.S. official--carrying a letter from President Barack Obama--arrived in North Korea. Shortly afterward, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered Bae’s release.
Bae, a South Korean-born U.S. citizen, moved to China in 2005 and established a company that specialized in tours of North Korea, family and friends said.
He was leading a tour when he was arrested in November 2012. He was sentenced in April 2013 over “hostile acts.”
It’s not clear what these were. But in a pretaped statement released in March, Bae said he “made a terrible mistake by carrying a portable hard drive containing hostile, anti-North Korean material by accident.”
Bae is a devout Christian, which led some to speculate he was carrying religious items. North Korea is officially an atheist state.
But it was Bae’s faith that helped him deal with the physical and verbal agony.
“Along the way, I found my way adjusting to life in the North Korean prison, just depending on God,” he said Monday.
“And I knew the U.S. government would do everything possible that (would) bring me home.”
Bae’s imprisonment gained widespread publicity after former basketball star Dennis Rodman--who once called the North Korean leader a friend and “very good guy”--lambasted Bae on CNN’s “New Day” in 2014.
Rodman provoked outrage after suggesting that Bae may have done something to deserve his sentence of 15 years of hard labor. Rodman later apologized, saying he had been drinking.
But Bae thanked Rodman for his 2014 outburst, saying it drew attention to his ordeal in North Korea.
“I thank Dennis Rodman for being a catalyst for my release,” Bae said Monday.
Bae’s health deteriorated during his captivity--he lost about 60 pounds and at one point was placed in a North Korean hospital to recuperate.
In November 2014, the U.S. State Department announced it had secured the release of Bae and another American held by North Korea, Matthew Todd Miller.
Bae then thanked the U.S. and North Korean governments and did not speak publicly until his March statement that promoted his book, which will be released Tuesday.
The memoir, which will be published HarperCollins’ Christian-themed division, will likely have strong religious undertones.
“One thing I want people to take away from reading the book is God’s faithfulness,” Bae said. “After I was released, I was reminded that God has not forgotten the people of North Korea.”
US Citizen Held In North Korea Says Rant By Dennis Rodman Helped Set Him Free
http://dlvr.it/LCXGpB
