N Korea returns jailed US citizen to labor camp
Iran Press TV
Sat Feb 8, 2014 3:13PM GMT
North Korea has sent jailed American citizen Kenneth Bae from hospital back to a labor camp, US officials say.
"The Department of State has learned that the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] transferred Mr. Bae from a hospital to a labor camp," the spokeswoman for the United States Department of State Jen Psaki said in a statement on Friday.
She added that Washington is "gravely concerned" about Bae's health, who has been in custody for more than 15 months.
The North Korean-American, who is a tour operator (also known as Pae Jun-ho in North Korea), was arrested in November 2012 after he entered North Korea.
The 45-year-old was sentenced to 15 years of compulsory hard labor in last April, after North Korea's Supreme Court convicted him of scheming the state's collapse.
Psaki also explained that it was unclear when Bae was returned to the labor camp.
"We continue to urge DPRK to grant Mr. Bae special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds," the spokeswoman said.
The United States announced last August that it would send Robert King, the US Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues, to discuss Bae. This is while Psaki said on January 29, 2014 that, "There isn't a plan right now for Ambassador King to travel there."
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