The pro North Korean newspaper Chosun Sinbo has released a video taped interview with American prisoner Kenneth Bae from his hospital bed in North Korea, reports the Sydney Morning Herald
The Washington state man was hospitalized last week after 9 months in prison, the longest an American has been held prisoner in North Korea in recent memory.
“As an American citizen, I request the US government to make active efforts so I can be pardoned and return home,” he said. “I think that a high-ranking US official should come here and bring me home, and that such an official should come here as a representative of the US government and apologize and make a request of an early pardon for my release.”
Some analysts have speculated that North Korea has refused to release Bae because a high profile American has not come to North Korea to seek Bae’s release. Previous Americans imprisoned in North Korea were released after visits from former Presidents Clinton and Carter.
The United States has refused to send someone until North Korea shows signs of giving up its nuclear weapons program.