From: 911insidejoke@gmail.com   
      
   American freed by N.Korea arrives back in US   
   AFP   
   By Stephen Dockery 14 hours ago   
      
   Washington (AFP) - An American held hostage for six months in North   
   Korea arrived home Wednesday after his surprise release, stressing he   
   had been well treated and voicing support for two other US citizens   
   still in detention.   
      
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       North Korea Frees American Detainee Jeffrey Fowle The Wall Street   
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       North Korean detainee reunites with family in US Associated Press   
       North Korea frees US man; 2 more still detained Associated Press   
       Bae family eye 'sign of hope' in N.Korea detainee release AFP   
       North Korea detainee release positive, but no game-changer AFP   
      
   Jeffrey Fowle was reunited with his wife and three children in his home   
   state of Ohio, after Pyongyang allowed a Pentagon plane to fly into the   
   North Korean capital on Tuesday to collect him.   
      
   "Jeff would like you to know that he was treated well by the government   
   of the DPRK (North Korea) and he's currently in good health," his family   
   said in a statement, read by their spokesman.   
      
   They thanked the State Department, the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang that   
   acted as a go-between to secure his release, former US ambassador Tony   
   Hall and everyone who offered "love, support and prayer" during Fowle's   
   detention.   
      
   North Korea said the "criminal" Fowle was freed as a "special measure"   
   on the orders of leader Kim Jong-Un following "repeated requests" from   
   US President Barack Obama.   
      
   In a brief report, the official KCNA news agency said Fowle, 56, had   
   been handed over to the US authorities in accordance with relevant legal   
   procedures.   
      
   But US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Washington, which has no   
   diplomatic ties with the North, had made no concessions to Pyongyang to   
   win his release.   
      
   "No, there was no quid pro quo," Kerry said during a visit to Berlin,   
   adding the United States was "very concerned about the remaining   
   American citizens who are in North Korea."   
      
   Fowle was smiling broadly as he stepped off his plane carrying his   
   luggage after arriving to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, US television   
   showed.   
      
   But his family said Fowle's thoughts were still with Americans Matthew   
   Miller and Kenneth Bae, who remain in North Korea having been sentenced   
   to work in hard labor camps.   
   View gallery   
   US citizen Matthew Miller (C), who was sentenced six …   
   US citizen Matthew Miller (C), who was sentenced six years hard labour   
   for "hostile" acts  ...   
      
   "Although we are overjoyed by Jeff's return home, we are mindful that   
   Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller continue to be detained," the family   
   said.   
      
   They added that they "understand the disappointment their families are   
   experiencing today that their loved ones did not return home with Jeff."   
      
   His family said he now needed time to adjust to being home.   
      
   Fowle entered the North in April and was detained after allegedly   
   leaving a Bible in the bathroom of a nightclub in the northern port of   
   Chongjin.   
      
   North Korea heavily restricts religious activity in the isolated   
   country.   
      
   Washington has condemned Pyongyang over the detentions, saying the men   
   were being held as political hostages to extract diplomatic concessions.   
      
   The 24-year-old Miller was also arrested in April after he allegedly   
   ripped up his visa at immigration and demanded asylum. Miller was   
   sentenced to six years' hard labor.   
      
   Korean-American Bae, 42, was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced to   
   15 years' hard labor.   
      
   - Overtures to outside world -   
      
   Fowle's release has been seen by some as a sign that North Korea may be   
   reaching out to the outside world.   
      
   The nuclear-armed North wants a resumption of stalled six-party nuclear   
   negotiations, but the United States and South Korea insist it must first   
   prove it is committed to denuclearization.   
      
   Bae's sister Terri Chung said Fowle's release could be a "sign of hope."   
      
   And analysts said the unexpected release could be aimed at prying open   
   the door to direct talks with Washington.   
      
   "It could mean the North Korean leadership is interested in exploring   
   what might be possible in terms of picking up a conversation with the US   
   again," said Paul Carroll, a North Korea expert and program director at   
   the Ploughshares Fund in San Francisco.   
      
   In another possible sign of warming relations with the outside world,   
   Tokyo announced Japanese diplomats will visit North Korea next week at   
   Pyongyang's request.   
      
   The trip will be the first official visit by Japan to North Korea in a   
   decade. The two countries have no formal diplomatic relations.   
      
   South Korea has welcomed the release of Fowle but urged the North to   
   release the two American detainees and a South Korean missionary who was   
   arrested on espionage charges.   
      
   http://news.yahoo.com/one-three-americans-held-n-korea-freed-white-   
   174722658.html   
      
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