A photo of American-North Korean citizen, Kenneth Bae, who was arrested by North Korea in November 2012.
The former US ambassador to South Korea has traveled to Pyongyang, hours after North Korea cancelled a US envoy’s visit to jailed Korean American, Kenneth Bae.
Donald Gregg traveled to North Korea after the Pyongyang government canceled the visit by the US special envoy Robert King, giving no reason for the move.
King had been invited to Pyongyang to visit Kenneth Bae, the Korean-American, who was arrested in November 2012 after he entered the northeastern port city of Rason.
The Korean-American, a tour operator who is known in North Korea as Pae Jun-ho, was sentenced to 15 years of compulsory hard labor in April 2013, after North Korea’s Supreme Court convicted him of scheming the state’s collapse.
The cancelation came ahead of the upcoming annual joint military exercise by South Korea and the United States, which Pyongyang has repeatedly called on Seoul to halt.
South Korea and the United States have repeatedly said that the military exercise is defensive in nature.
The annual joint military drill is to begin late in February and will continue for two weeks. Nearly 28,500 US troops are currently stationed in South Korea.
MM/HSN/HRB