BEIJING – North Korea freed an American it held for a half year for
reportedly proselytizing, handing him Saturday to a U.S. envoy who said
Washington had not promised to provide aid in exchange for the man's
release.
The envoy, Robert King, accompanied
Eddie Jun on a flight from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, and
told reporters after arriving in Beijing that Jun would be reunited
with his family in the United States "within a day or two."
Jun
did not appear with King before reporters in Beijing. Jun, dressed in a
dark jacket, appeared in good spirits, smiling with King as they
boarded the plane in Pyongyang, according to footage from Associated
Press Television News. After Beijing, Jun flew to Seoul where he told
reporters he would have a medical checkup, South Korea's Yonhap news
agency reported.
Jun, a Korean-American from
California who traveled to North Korea several times and had business
interests there, was arrested in November, with the North's official
Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, saying he was accused of
committing a serious crime. Pyongyang didn't provide details, but South
Korean press reports say Jun was accused of spreading Christianity.
King,
the U.S. envoy for North Korean human rights, traveled to Pyongyang
this week with specialists to assess the severity of the latest of
North Korea's chronic food shortages. He said he spent 3 1/2 days in
talks with North Korean Foreign Ministry officials. He did not specify
how much time was spent discussing Jun but tried to quash any
speculation that the U.S. had offered aid to obtain his freedom.
"We did not negotiate or agree to any provision of food assistance," King told reporters.
The
U.N. World Food Program made a $200 million appeal last month, saying
more than 6 million of North Korea's 23 million people urgently needed
food aid. Some critics question if the need is that dire and whether
the North would distribute outside aid fairly.
King said he would report his findings back to Washington.
KCNA
announced Friday that Jun would be released after King "expressed
regret at the incident on behalf of the U.S. government" and assured it
would try to prevent a recurrence.
In
Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Friday that he
could not confirm whether King had expressed regret. "We welcome their
decision. It's certainly a positive step," Toner told a news conference.
Toner
said the release would have no bearing on the U.S. decision on whether
to provide food aid and on restarting dialogue with the North. On
engaging North Korea, Toner said the U.S. was still looking for
"concrete actions" in other areas and an improvement in the North's
relations with South Korea.
The United States,
which fought on South Korea's side during the 1950-53 Korean War,
doesn't have diplomatic staff based in North Korea. Negotiations on
establishing relations have snagged amid North Korea's efforts to
develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and its provocations
toward South Korea.
In recent years, North
Korea has detained several Americans, one of them for trying to
proselytize, and they were often freed only after high-profile
negotiations. North Korea has said that former President Jimmy Carter
asked for Jun's pardon during a visit last month.
North
Korea officially guarantees freedom of religion but often cracks down
on Christians, who are seen as a Western-influenced threat. The
distribution of Bibles and secret prayer services can mean banishment
to a labor camp or execution, defectors have said. AP
