Via Daily Mail:
The desperately worried wife of an 85-year-old Korean War veteran and beloved grandfather detained in North Korea has spoken out for the first time in a plea to get him home by Thanksgiving.
Merrill Newman, of Palo Alto, California, traveled to the country last month but was taken off his plane by a North Korean officer as he was about to fly back to the U.S. on October 26.
The grandfather, who has a heart condition, hasn’t been heard from since and his family are concerned about his health and status.
His wife Lee Newman, who hasn’t seen her husband in six weeks, and son Jeffrey made an emotional appeal on the Today show on Monday morning.A tearful Mrs Newman said ‘It’s hard for his grandchildren, it’s hard for his whole family.’
Mr Newman’s family has tried to to get heart medication to him through the Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang, as the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with North Korea.
But his deeply concerned relatives have no way of knowing if the pills have actually reached him, or had any contact at all.
‘When you don’t know where your husband of 56 years is, you don’t know his health, you don’t know when he will be home with us, it’s not an easy situation. He needs to be back at home,’ his wife said.