North Korea Promises to Release Repentant American Missionary Robert Park

Friday, February 5, 2010

North Korea Promises to Release Repentant American Missionary Robert Park

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA (ANS) -- An American missionary held in North Korea since Christmas has been set to be released from the country, although no official release date has been given.

According to Hansen Sinclair, All Headline News Reporter (www.allheadlinenews.com ), North Korean officials say they are releasing the American in part because he took responsibility for his actions and spoke positively about the country.

Sinclair reports that there was no word on another American the North Koreans were reported holding late last month.

Sinclair states that a brief report from the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued on Jan. 28 said only that the American had trespassed into the country from the border with China and was under investigation.

American missionary Robert Park, who allegedly crossed the border into North Korea, and has been held since Christmas 2009, will be released by the country. However, no release date has been set as of yet, officials reported.

Korean officials reportedly said Park, 28, would be released after the government made the decision to forgive and free the Arizona missionary.

Korean officials said part of their decision was based on Park taking responsibility for his actions. The government issued a statement saying that he was treated with dignity and respect in North Korea, negating rumors previously heard by Western countries about Park's treatment in North Korea.

According to reports, Park -- who is of Korean descent -- entered North Korea by walking across the then-frozen Tumen River under the misinformation that there were concentration camps and mistreated political prisoners. Park found that not to be true once he was held, however.

There have been reports of a second American held in North Korea who crossed the border from China, according to reports. That American has yet to be identified.

A similar report by Lee Tae-hoon, Staff Reporter for The Korea Times, also confirmed that North Korea said Friday it would release a U.S. citizen arrested and detained since last Christmas Day for illegally entering the communist state.

Tae-hoon names that citizen as religious activist Robert Park, who crossed into the North from China by walking across a frozen river to highlight alleged human rights abuses in the reclusive country.

"The authorities concerned have decided to leniently forgive and release him by taking his sincere repentance and acknowledgement of his wrongdoings into consideration," The Korean Times said citing the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Tae-hoon reports that observers said the decision could help improve North Korea's relations with the United States amid the nuclear standoff.

The North Korean move came as Wang Jiarui, chief of the Chinese Communist Party's international department, was reportedly preparing to visit Pyongyang early next week to prod the North to rejoin the six-party denuclearization talks.

The KCNA claimed Park expressed deep regret for his actions. But it did not mention where or when he would be freed, the Korea Times report said.

"I sincerely repent the sins that I committed by being fooled by the West's false propaganda about the North," the KCNA quoted Park as saying.

However, Tae-hoon said that analysts expressed strong suspicion over the credibility of the KCNA interview.

The analysts said Park was being used as the North's propaganda tool, claiming that religious freedom has yet to take root in the communist regime despite constitutional guarantees.

According to the KCNA, Park said he was "shocked and felt ashamed" when his Bible was returned to him and he was allowed to attend a service at Pyongyang's Pongsu church.

According to The Korea Times report, Park allegedly said all North Koreans, including military officers, treated him compassionately and respected his religious and human rights.

"I would not have committed such a crime had I known that North Korea respects the rights of all the people and guarantees their freedom and they enjoy a happy and stable life," Park was quoted as saying.

Last week, the North also claimed to have detained another American for trespassing on its border, The Korea Times stated.

"An American was detained for trespassing on the border of North Korea with China on Jan. 25," the KCNA said. "He is now being questioned by local authorities."

The DongA Ilbo newspaper in Seoul, South Korea, citing an unnamed North Korean source, said the American, whose identity is unknown, said he "wants to serve in the North Korean military because he did not want to become cannon fodder in the capitalist military."

In 2009, the reclusive North Korean regime detained two American journalists for illegal entry.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who worked for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV network, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor but pardoned last August after four months in captivity when former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited the country.


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** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649,at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please co ntact him at: A NS Chief Reporter