North Korea refuses to enter talks to free Americans until former prisoner stops “babbling”
North Korea will not negotiate with the United States over two American citizens it is holding until former detainee Kenneth Bae stops publicly talking about his time in prison, state media said on Monday.
Criticised over its human rights record for years, North Korea has made use of detained Americans in the past to extract high-profile visits from the United States, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations.
As long as Kenneth Bae continues his babbling, we will not proceed with any compromise or negotiations with the United States
North Korea arrested Bae, a US missionary, in November 2012 and sentenced him to 15 years’ hard labour for crimes against the state.
He was released two years later and has written an account of his detention in a memoir released in May. Since then, Bae has spoken about his experiences at several public appearances and given interviews to promote the book.
North Korean labour camp gave US citizen ‘greater understanding’ of the country, he says
“As long as Kenneth Bae continues his babbling, we will not proceed with any compromise or negotiations with the United States on the subject of American criminals, and there will certainly not be any such thing as humanitarian action,” the North’s KCNA news agency said.