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U.S. missionary said moved back to North Korean labor camp
Source: Reuters
U.S. missionary said moved back to North Korean labor camp
BY DAVID BRUNNSTROM AND ALEX DOBUZINSKIS
WASHINGTON Fri Feb 7, 2014 8:13pm EST
(Reuters) - A U.S. missionary being held in North Korea was moved from a hospital back to a labor camp last month on the same day he made a public appeal for Washington to help get him home, the U.S. State Department said on Friday, citing Swedish diplomats who met the prisoner.
Kenneth Bae, 45, has been held for more than a year in North Korea after being sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to overthrow the state. From last summer until January 20, he had been kept at Friendship Hospital in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, his family said.
"The Department of State has learned that the DPRK transferred Mr. Bae from a hospital to a labor camp, a development with which we are deeply concerned," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
"We also remain gravely concerned about Mr. Bae's health, and we continue to urge DPRK authorities to grant Mr Bae special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds," she said, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
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BY DAVID BRUNNSTROM AND ALEX DOBUZINSKIS
WASHINGTON Fri Feb 7, 2014 8:13pm EST
(Reuters) - A U.S. missionary being held in North Korea was moved from a hospital back to a labor camp last month on the same day he made a public appeal for Washington to help get him home, the U.S. State Department said on Friday, citing Swedish diplomats who met the prisoner.
Kenneth Bae, 45, has been held for more than a year in North Korea after being sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to overthrow the state. From last summer until January 20, he had been kept at Friendship Hospital in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, his family said.
"The Department of State has learned that the DPRK transferred Mr. Bae from a hospital to a labor camp, a development with which we are deeply concerned," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
"We also remain gravely concerned about Mr. Bae's health, and we continue to urge DPRK authorities to grant Mr Bae special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds," she said, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/08/us-korea-north-bae-usa-idUSBREA161XH20140208