North Korea frees American detained for half year

Sat, 28 May 2011 15:05:00 +0000

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.

Salon.com > Louise Watt

North Korea frees American detained for half year