In this Sept. 1, 2014 file photo, Jeffrey Fowle, an American detained in North Korea,... Read More
Fowle was released with the help of Sweden, which acted as an intermediary, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said yesterday. The U.S. doesn’t have diplomatic relations with North Korea.
Fowle, who was in North Korea as a tourist, was detained after allegedly leaving a bible in his hotel room, Kyodo news agency reported in June. The U.S. Defense Department provided an airplane for his departure, Earnest said. CNN showed Fowle being embraced by
his wife and three children after his plane landed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio this morning.
“The release is a win-win move for both North Korea and the U.S.,” Yang Moo Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said by phone. “North Korea is urging the U.S. to ease its human rights criticism at the UN, while President Barack Obama can tout the release as a result of his government’s dedication to the safety of its citizens ahead of the midterm vote.”
The U.S. is continuing to press North Korea to release two other detained Americans, Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
Before the release, Jang Il Hun, North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the UN, said his country “totally and categorically” rejects a resolution by the European Union and Japan to refer its human rights situation to the International Criminal Court.
“None of such violations exist in my country,” Jang said at the Council on Foreign Relations, according to the website of the organization. He also said the U.S. and North Korea should have “confidence-building measures” such as economic and educational cooperation while U.S. sanctions are lifted.
‘Good Health’
Since his release, Fowle has been evaluated by a doctor and “appears to be in good health,” Harf said.Harf declined to provide details of the negotiations that led to his freedom, beyond thanking Sweden for its role. She gave no indication of North Korea’s reason for freeing Fowle or the prospects for the release of the other two detainees.
She said the Pentagon was able to supply a plane “to provide transportation to Mr. Fowle in the time frame specified” by North Korea. The plane stopped at a U.S. military base on Guam on the way back from Pyongyang, she said.
Miller was sentenced in September to six years of hard labor for what North Korea termed “hostile” acts, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. KCNA said Miller tore up his tourist visa after arriving in North Korea and shouted that he wanted to seek asylum.
Bae, a U.S. missionary, was arrested in November 2012 in the northeastern city of Rason. He was sentenced to 15 years in a labor camp for what the North Koreans called plans to overthrow the Kim Jong Un regime.
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