84°F
weather icon Cloudy
Las Vegas, NV
Nation and World

US asks North Korea to release detained Americans

Jeffrey Fowle, an American detained in North Korea, speaks to the Associated Press, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has given foreign media access to three detained Americans who said they have been able to contact their families and watched by officials as they spoke, called for Washington to send a representative to negotiate for their freedom. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Mathew Miller, an American detained in North Korea, waits in a room after speaking to the Associated Press, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has given foreign media access to three detained Americans who said they have been able to contact their families and watched by officials as they spoke, called for Washington to send a representative to negotiate for their freedom. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Kenneth Bae, an American tour guide and missionary serving a 15-year sentence, detained in North Korea, speaks to the Associated Press, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has given foreign media access to three detained Americans who said they have been able to contact their families and watched by officials as they spoke, called for Washington to send a representative to negotiate for their freedom. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Kenneth Bae, an American tour guide and missionary serving a 15-year sentence, detained in North Korea, speaks to the Associated Press, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has given foreign media access to three detained Americans who said they have been able to contact their families and watched by officials as they spoke, called for Washington to send a representative to negotiate for their freedom. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
American Kenneth Bae, a tour guide and missionary serving a 15-year sentence, detained in North Korea, speaks to the Associated Press, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has given foreign media access to three detained Americans who said they have been able to contact their families and watched by officials as they spoke, called for Washington to send a representative to negotiate for their freedom. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
More Stories
A giant dust storm approaches the Phoenix metro area as a monsoon storm pushes the dust into th ...
‘It was that bad’: Powerful haboob sweeps through Phoenix
FILE - U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles are parked outside a post office in Boys Town, Neb ...
European postal services suspend shipment of packages to US over tariffs
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, leaves the Putnam County Jail, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Cookevil ...
US now seeks to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda
Lyle, left, and Erik Galen Menendez sit in a Beverly Hills, Calif., courtroom, May 14, 1990. (A ...
Lyle and Erik Menendez have been denied parole. Find out about their case
REUTERS
September 1, 2014 - 10:32 am
 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Monday requested that the North Korean government release three U.S. citizens currently detained there “out of humanitarian concern” and grant one of them special amnesty to seek medical care.

Three U.S. citizens - Kenneth Bae, Jeffrey Fowle and Matthew Miller - asked the American government for help returning home on Monday in rare interviews with CNN set up by the North Korean government. Bae is serving a 15-year sentence, others are awaiting trial.

“There is no greater priority for us than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad … We continue to work actively to secure these three U.S. Citizens’ release,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

“The Embassy of Sweden in Pyongyang acts as our protecting power for issues involving U.S. citizens in North Korea. We are in regular, close coordination with representatives of the Embassy of Sweden.”

MOST READ
Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
A giant dust storm approaches the Phoenix metro area as a monsoon storm pushes the dust into th ...
‘It was that bad’: Powerful haboob sweeps through Phoenix
By Ross Franklin and Hallie Golden The Associated Press

A towering wall of dust rolled through metro Phoenix with storms that left thousands of people without power and temporarily grounded flights at the city airport.

FILE - U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles are parked outside a post office in Boys Town, Neb ...
European postal services suspend shipment of packages to US over tariffs
By Demetris Nellas and Mae Anderson The Associated Press

The exemption, known as the “de minimis” exemption, allows packages worth less than $800 to come into the U.S. duty free. A total of 1.36 billion packages were sent in 2024 under this exemption.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, leaves the Putnam County Jail, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Cookevil ...
US now seeks to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda
By Travis Loller Associated Press

Immigration officials said they intend to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda, after he declined an offer to be sent to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges, his defense attorneys told a court Saturday.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, leaves the Putnam County Jail, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Cookevil ...
Man mistakenly deported to El Salvador freed from Tennessee jail
By TRAVIS LOLLER and KRISTIN M. HALL Associated Press

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released from jail in Tennessee on Friday so he can rejoin his family in Maryland while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges.

This June 26, 2013, image made from a video provided by Gunnar Boettcher shows a rabbit in Mank ...
Frankenstein bunnies? Rabbits with ‘horns’ spotted in Colorado
By Ben Finley and Colleen Slevin Associated Press

A group of rabbits in Colorado with grotesque, hornlike growths may seem straight out of a low-budget horror film, but scientists say there’s no reason to be spooked — the furry creatures merely have a relatively common virus.

MORE STORIES