State department urges North Korea to free US citizen

The US State Department urged Tuesday the North Korean authorities to free US citizen Kenneth Bae, who was arrested last November. US State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf said DPRK should grant amnesty to 45-year-old Kenneth Bae. "We will continue to urge the DPRK to grant him amnesty and immediate release so he can return home," she said, adding that Washington was holding continuous talks with the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang to stay updated with Bae's condition. The ambassador of Sweden, which takes care of US interests in North Korea in the absence of relations between Washington and Pyongyang, visited Bae in a hospital on Friday, Harf said. Bae, a Christian missionary was given a sentence of 15 years in jail for attempting to overthrow the regime