This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/world/north-korea-releases-2-american-detainees.html

The article has changed 12 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 4 Version 5
North Korea Releases 2 Americans, Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller North Korea Releases 2 Americans, Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller
(about 3 hours later)
WASHINGTON — North Korea has released two Americans who have been held in the country for extended periods, after the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., flew to the country on a secret mission and secured their freedom. WASHINGTON — North Korea released two Americans who had been accused of trying to subvert the secretive state, after the director of national intelligence for the United States, James R. Clapper Jr., flew to the country on a secret mission and departed on Saturday with the men aboard his aircraft.
In a terse statement issued Saturday by Mr. Clapper’s office, the Americans — Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller — were described as “on their way home, accompanied by D.N.I. Clapper.” Officials said they were likely to land on the West Coast, where Mr. Bae and Mr. Miller both live, some time on Saturday night. In a terse statement issued by Mr. Clapper’s office, the Americans — Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller — were described as “on their way home, accompanied by D.N.I. Clapper.” Officials said they were likely to land on the West Coast, where Mr. Bae and Mr. Miller both live, some time on Saturday night.
It was an unusual role for Mr. Clapper, the nation’s most senior intelligence official, whose job is to coordinate policy and operations among the nation’s 16 spy agencies. Gruff and blunt-speaking, the retired general is an unlikely diplomat but, in the words of one American official, “perfect for the North Koreans.” It was an unusual role for Mr. Clapper, the nation’s most senior intelligence official, whose job is to coordinate policy and operations among the nation’s 16 spy agencies. Gruff, blunt-speaking and seen by many in the Obama administration as a throwback to the Cold War, the retired general is an unlikely diplomat but, in the words of one American official, “perfect for the North Koreans.”
Mr. Bae, 46, had been held for two years on charges of operating with an evangelical organization, Youth with a Mission, and preaching against the North Korean government. North Korea charged he had been planning a “religious coup d’état,” and after a brief trial he was sentenced to hard labor on a farm. Mr. Miller, 25, entered North Korea seven months ago and reportedly tore up his visa, and by some reports sought asylum. He was charged with unruly behavior. Mr. Bae, 46, had been held for two years after being convicted of using a Christian evangelical organization, Youth with a Mission, to preach against the North Korean government and planning a “religious coup d’état.” After a brief trial, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on a farm, raising concerns about his fragile health.
Together with the release last month of Jeffrey E. Fowle, who had been held for six months, the decision to let the two Americans go is the latest evidence that Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s unpredictable young leader, is attempting new approaches to the Obama administration. It was not clear whether Mr. Clapper traveled with a letter from President Obama — which would be a usual approach — but a senior administration official said he “was there to listen,” and to “reiterate our views.” Mr. Miller, 25, entered North Korea seven months ago and reportedly tore up his visa, and by some accounts sought asylum. He was charged with unruly behavior, and North Korean officials suspected he was trying to get inside one of the country’s feared prison camps, to write about it later.
Mr. Obama said Saturday that “we’re very grateful for their safe return” and he praised Mr. Clapper for successfully completing what he called “a challenging mission.”  Together with the release last month of Jeffrey E. Fowle, who had been held for six months, the decision to let the two Americans go is the latest evidence that Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s unpredictable and untested young leader, is trying his first approaches to the Obama administration since taking power. Officials would not say whether Mr. Clapper traveled with a letter from President Obama — which would be a usual approach — but a senior administration official said he “was there to listen,” and to “reiterate our views.”
It was also not clear whether Mr. Clapper had spoken directly with Mr. Kim, who had disappeared from public view earlier this summer with what now appears to have been a painful leg ailment, or whether he had seen other North Korean leaders. Mr. Obama said Saturday that “we’re very grateful for their safe return” and praised Mr. Clapper for successfully completing what he called “a challenging mission.”
Mr. Clapper rarely announces his schedule and can travel with little notice. But earlier this week he canceled, at the last moment, a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, with no explanation. He left shortly after that on his trip to the North. Sending high-level emissaries to the North is a long tradition; in Mr. Obama’s first term, former President Bill Clinton went to secure the release of some young American women who had been seized on a journalistic trip along the Chinese border with the North. But Mr. Clinton’s trip led to no fundamental change in relations, which have been in a deep freeze since the North conducted a nuclear weapon test just months into Mr. Obama’s presidency in 2009. The test, one of Mr. Obama’s aides said at the time, made “us all North Korea hawks,” and Mr. Obama has not attempted the kind of broad engagement with North Korea that he has pursued so vigorously with Iran. In fact, the specter of Mr. Clapper’s flying into the last stronghold of hard-line communist dictatorship may be the director’s best chance to revise a national image that was bruised when he was asked, in an open congressional hearing, whether intelligence officials collected data about ordinary Americans. “No sir,” he responded. “Not wittingly.”
But with the Iran nuclear negotiations approaching a major deadline in two weeks, and the possibility of a new opening of dialogue with North Korea, Mr. Obama has a chance, in the last two years of his presidency, to make some headway with two countries that have posed both nuclear and human rights challenges to the United States and its allies. Months later the revelations by Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, made clear that, in the most charitable interpretation, Mr. Clapper had issued a misleading statement to protect classified programs; he later conceded in a letter that “my response was clearly erroneous.”
In both cases of Mr. Bae and Mr. Miller, the North had made the most of their capture. Mr. Bae received a sentence of 15 years and the North alleged that he had attempted to build an underground proselytizing network. The administration issued almost no details of the trip to North Korea, saying communications from Pyongyang were so scant that they did not immediately know what had taken place in the discussion. It was also not clear whether Mr. Clapper had spoken directly with Mr. Kim, who disappeared from public view earlier this summer with what now appears to have been a painful leg ailment, or whether he had seen other North Korean leaders.
However far-fetched it may have seemed that a single American could overthrow a North Korean family that has had absolute control of the country since just after World War II, the trial was used as part of the narrative that the country is constantly a target of American plotters. That is also the justification offered by the North for its nuclear program. Mr. Clapper rarely announces his schedule and can travel with little notice. But earlier this week he canceled, at the last moment, a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He left shortly after that on his trip to the North.
Mr. Miller, of Bakersfield, Calif., seemed a bit lost in the interviews he was allowed to conduct. He went through a brief trial earlier this fall; photos released by the North showed him with eyes downcast, and flanked by uniformed security officials. He was accused of entering North Korea with the “ambition” to deliberately violate North Korean law so he could experience life in a North Korean prison and later become a firsthand witness about the human rights conditions in the North, The Associated Press and The Choson Sinbo, a South Korean paper, reported at the time of the trial. Sending high-level emissaries to the North is a long tradition; in Mr. Obama’s first term, former President Bill Clinton went to secure the release of some young American women who had been seized on a journalistic trip along the Chinese border with the North. But Mr. Clinton’s trip led to no fundamental change in relations, which have been in a deep freeze since the North conducted a nuclear weapons test, its second, in May 2009, just months into Mr. Obama’s presidency. One of Mr. Obama’s top Asia aides, Jeffrey A. Bader, said the test made everyone in the White House “North Korea hawks.”
That may have touched a nerve. In recent weeks the North Korean ambassador to the United Nations met with a group of Americans, including two reporters, to argue that a U.N. report documenting the North’s extensive prison camp system was based on fabrications. Mr. Obama has not attempted the kind of broad engagement that he has pursued so vigorously with Iran, responding to the North’s provocations by pursuing a policy of freezing the country out of the international economy, in hopes the regime will eventually implode.
That report described “widespread, systematic and gross” violations, including enslavement, torture, rape and executions in the North’s prison camps. But with the Iran nuclear negotiations approaching a major deadline, and the possibility of a new dialogue to test whether Mr. Kim’s advances are sincere, Mr. Obama has a chance to make some headway with two countries that have posed both nuclear and human rights challenges to the United States and its allies.
The ambassador seemed concerned that Mr. Kim could face charges at the International Criminal Court for human rights violations, and he said the North only had “ordinary prisons,” like those in the United States. The president leaves on Sunday for China, North Korea’s last protector. Presumably the subject of how to deal with Mr. Kim, for whom Chinese leaders have expressed their suspicion and disdain, will come up in meetings with President Xi Jinping.
After news of the Americans’ release, Mr. Bae’s sister, Terri Chung, said in a statement that she was “thrilled to imagine hugging my brother soon. He will not have to spend another day at a labor camp. He can now recover from this imprisonment and look forward to his wife, kids and rest of his life. Our Thanksgiving celebration this year will be one we will never forget.”
Mr. Miller, of Bakersfield, Calif., seemed a bit lost in the interviews he had been allowed to conduct for American television. He went through a brief trial earlier this fall; photos released by the North showed him with eyes downcast, and flanked by uniformed security officials.
He was accused of entering North Korea with the “ambition” to deliberately violate North Korean law so he could experience life in a North Korean prison and later become a firsthand witness about the human rights conditions in the North, The Associated Press and The Choson Sinbo, a South Korean paper, reported at the time of the trial.
That may have touched a nerve. In recent weeks a top North Korean diplomat, Jang il-Hun, met in New York with a group of Americans to argue that a United Nations report documenting the North’s extensive prison camp system was based on fabrications.
That report described “widespread, systematic and gross” violations, including enslavement, torture, rape and executions in the prison camps.
The ambassador seemed concerned that Mr. Kim could face charges at the International Criminal Court for human rights violations, and he said the North only had “ordinary prisons,” like those in the United States. “In my country we don’t even know the term ‘political prisoners,’ ” Mr. Jang, a 32-year veteran of the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said.
South Korea seized upon the release of the Americans to urge North Korea to free a South Korean missionary held there. In May, North Korea sentenced Kim Jong-uk, a Baptist missionary, to life in a labor camp for allegedly trying to build underground churches in the North, where the government has condemned such religious activities as an attempt to sabotage its rule. The missionary was also convicted of spying and other various “antistate” crimes, according to the North Korean news media.