Monday, November 10, 2014

Americans freed from North Korea reunited with families in US


Two Americans held captive in North Korea are beginning their first full week of freedom are their release was successfully negotiated.

Now that Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller have been freed there are now no American citizens currently detained in North Korea.

With the Story, FSN's Washington correspondent Kevin McAleese

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IN: A few pounds...
OUT: SOC
DUR: 3 mins 7 secs



A few pounds lighter but still smiling, the two men, who flew back accompanied by the US director of National Intelligence, were greeted by their families on the tarmac of a military base in Washington State - Kenneth Bae, who had been sentenced in 2013 to 15 years hard labour, said despite his ordeal he was standing strong.

[[CLIP Bae]] 

Speaking at the White house ahead of his trip to Asia,President Obama cheered their release calling it a wonderful day for the men and their families.  

[[CLIP Obama]]

Missionary Kenneth Bae [[ bay ]] was imprisoned for what North Korea called crimes against the state and Matthew Todd Miller handed six years of hard labor for alleged espionage - he was held for 7 months after claims he'd destroyed his visa on arrival in the DPRK.   

Another American, Jeffrey Fowle [[ foul ]] was released from captivity in North Korea last month. He was arrested after leaving a bible in a hotel.  

[[CLIP Fowle]]

However, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki stressed that this wasnt a diplomatic effort and that the U.S. did not promise North Korea anything in return for the release of the two Americans, adding that the country still posed a danger to the international community. 

[[CLIP Psaki]]

North Korea says it agreed to release Bae and Miller after U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper went to Pyongyang to personally deliver a letter from President Obama. The release comes just ahead of Mr Obama's meeting with China's president Xi jinping, North Korea's only ally in the region.

Kevin McAleese, Washington.