US asking N. Korea to release American citizen

Posted on : 2013-05-01 16:20 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Tour operator Kenneth Bae could be indicted on charges of trying to overthrow the Pyongyang regime
 Korean-American who has been detained in North Korea since Nov. 2012.
Korean-American who has been detained in North Korea since Nov. 2012.

By Kang Tae-ho, senior staff writer

The US Department of State asked North Korea to immediately release Korean-American Kenneth Bae (Korean name Bae Jun-ho), 44, who has been detained in North Korea since Nov. 2012. In response, the North used the Rodong Sinmun, a state-run newspaper, to urge the US to take decisive measures to find a fundamental solution to the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula. Considering that the remarks were made just as the Foal Eagle South Korea-US military exercises are ending, which North Korea has identified as the greatest cause of the crisis on the peninsula, the next question is what light they may shed on the possibility of future talks.

“We are aware of reports that U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae will face trial in North Korea,” said Patrick Ventrell, deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State, at the regular press briefing on Apr. 29 (EST). “You know the welfare of U.S. citizens is a critical and top priority for this Department. We call on the D.P.R.K. to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds.” Ventrell explained that the Embassy of Sweden in Pyongyang had met with Bae on Apr. 26 and that the US government is currently trying to learn more about the nature of the charges against Bae. The Swedish embassy acts on behalf of US interests in North Korea, since Washington and Pyongyang don’t have diplomatic relations.

The position of the US government expressed here was an official response to North Korea’s announcement through the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) on Apr. 27 that Bae would be tried at its highest court.

On Apr. 29, the New York Times reported that if North Korea makes an effort to protect the safety of US citizens, which is among the top priorities for US policy-making, it could strengthen the position of moderates in the US.

This could take the form of the North releasing Bae by conducting a speedy trial and deporting him. If the North does this, it could be construed as a positive response to the “dialogue and diplomatic approach” mentioned by US Secretary of State John Kerry during his tour of South Korea, China, and Japan in mid-April.

In addition, despite its rejection of proposals for talks made by South Korea and the US, North Korea has not launched a Musudan missile or taken any other known military action. This gives reason to believe that the North is hoping the situation will change into one that permits dialogue.

It comes as no surprise that the US conservative economic newspaper The Wall Street Journal described this as North Korea’s “pressure diplomacy.” This is being interpreted as speaking for negative public opinion about North Korea. People with this opinion think the US must not give in to North Korea’s efforts to gain the upper hand in the negotiations by holding a US citizen as a hostage.

Amid speculation by US media that North Korea might use the Bae incident as a ploy for negotiations, North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun printed an commentary titled, “Telling the Truth about the Nuclear Crisis on the Korean Peninsula.”

“It is the US that is responsible for the nuclear crisis we see today on the Korean peninsula,” the commentary said, “As such, the US must take decisive measures to fundamentally resolve that problem.”

In terms of foreign relations, commentaries are regarded as being more authoritative than statements released by the North Korean government or by spokespeople.

While refraining from making any additional military threats and criticizing the US, the editorial urged the US to make a decision to solve the nuclear issue. “The claim that we are using nuclear weapons as a bargaining chip at the negotiating table is a sophistic argument made in ignorance of our true intentions,” the editorial said. “We had no choice but to develop nuclear weapons to resist the US scheme to carry out a nuclear war, to protect the safety of our people, and to ensure the peace of Korean peninsula and of Asia.”

The question of how North Korea will deal with Bae remains an open question.

In past incidents in which people have entered North Korea illegally including Korean-American Euna Lee and Chinese-American Laura Ling in Aug. 2009 and American Aijalon Mahli Gomes in 2010 North Korea had former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter visit North Korea to negotiate the detainees’ releases. North Korea was attempting to use them as messengers for talks.

However, it is difficult to be certain that the conventional pattern, in which high-ranking officials visit the North, the North releases detainees, and talks are held, will be repeated in this case as well. At the moment, North Korea is not even responding to the US conditional proposal for talks.

One exception to this pattern was when North Korea released Korean-American Jun Young-su, whom it had detained in 2011, without a criminal trial. The North was responding to the appeal made by Jimmy Carter, Franklin Graham, and Robert King, the US special envoy for human rights in North Korea.

 

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