His crime? Leaving a Bible at a nightclub.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American detainee Jeffrey Fowle has been released from North Korea, nearly six months after he was taken into custody, the State Department said Tuesday. Two other Americans who have been tried and convicted of crimes in North Korea are still being held.
Fowle, 56, of Miamisburg, Ohio, had been awaiting trial on charges of leaving a Bible at a nightclub in the northern port city of Chongjin last May. He was flown out of North Korea on a U.S. government jet that was spotted Tuesday by Associated Press journalists at Pyongyang’s international airport. The Swedish government helped negotiate Fowle’s release.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it was a positive decision by North Korea to release Fowle, but called on Pyongyang to release the other Americans, Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller.