Former US prisoner held in North Korea shocked by Warmbier's death

(Baonghean.vn)- On June 21, missionary Kenneth Bae, who was detained for 2 years in North Korea, said he could not imagine that a valuable American citizen like Otto Warmier would die after being detained by Pyongyang.

Otto Warmbier's death has further worsened diplomatic relations between the US and North Korea. Photo: AFP

Kenneth, who was detained in 2012, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, and released after being escorted home by a secret US delegation headed by US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, said he was treated fairly well in prison because he was a diplomatic bargaining chip.

Speaking in a live interview with South Korean television channel YTN, Kenneth, a Korean-American, said: “Everything depends on the attitude of the US government.”

He said it was “incredible” that an American citizen could die in a North Korean prison, and that he himself had never been beaten or mistreated by the authorities.

However, Mr. Kenneth said he was forced to do manual labor for many days in the fields, including planting beans and moving coal, a harsh regime that caused him to lose 27 kg during his detention.

Kenneth Bae, a Christian missionary who was detained for two years in a North Korean prison. Photo: NBC News

Meanwhile, top Pyongyang officials, including a prosecutor, insisted they had exchanged Mr. Kenneth for diplomatic reasons, asking him “why the U.S. government was silent” on the case and not trying to free him immediately. The prosecutor even said that “he thought I would stay in prison until he retired.” Mr. Kenneth’s two-year imprisonment is the longest any American has spent in a North Korean prison in recent years.

Warmbier’s death prompted Kenneth, 48, to speak out publicly about his time in prison in Pyongyang. “I am here and speaking out so that the death of this young man will not be forgotten, but to raise awareness about those who are currently being held in North Korea,” he said.

There are currently three US citizens detained in North Korea, including two men who taught at a Pyongyang university, and a Korean-American pastor accused of spying for South Korea.

Lan Ha

(According to AFP)