SEATTLE, Oct 11: The mother of jailed US missionary Kenneth Bae has arrived in North Korea to visit her ailing son, who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in May on charges of state subversion, his family said.
Myunghee Bae was expected to be in North Korea for about five days on a trip in which she hoped to be able to encourage her son, who has diabetes and is poor health, the family said yesterday.
“I don’t really know what to expect for my trip. All I know is that I want to see my son,” Bae’s mother said in a statement, in which she expressed gratitude to Pyongyang for allowing the visit.
Bae, 45, was detained last November as he led a tour group through the northern region of the country. His sentencing came amid acrimonious relations between Pyongyang and Washington over the reclusive state’s nuclear program.
His plight has attracted international attention. In August, a planned trip by Robert King, U.S. Special envoy on North Korean human rights issues, to try to negotiate Bae’s release was canceled by North Korea.
King’s trip had been seen as a signal that relations between Washington and Pyongyang might start to improve after a tense start to 2013 in which North Korea conducted a nuclear weapons test and threatened nuclear attack against the United States and its ally, South Korea.
(AGENCIES)
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