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US missionary leaves N Korea
AP, BEIJING
Sunday, Feb 07, 2010, Page 1
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Robert Park, a US religious activist who
illegally entered North Korea in December, arrives at an airport in Beijing from
North Korea yesterday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Looking pale and drawn, a US missionary headed home yesterday
after North Korea released him from six weeks¡¦ detention for crossing its border
on Christmas Day to protest religious suppression in the totalitarian regime.
Robert Park, his eyes almost closed, made no comment as US consular officials
guided him to a transit area in Beijing¡¦s airport after his arrival from North
Korea.
He was to leave later in the day, US embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said.
¡§We welcome North Korea¡¦s release of Robert Park,¡¨ she said.
Park, 28, crossed the frozen Tumen River from China into North Korea carrying
letters calling on leader Kim Jong-il to close the country¡¦s notoriously brutal
prison camps and step down from power ¡X acts that could have risked execution in
the hard-line communist country.
North Korea disclosed nothing about Park during his 43 days in custody before
announcing on Friday that he would be freed and crediting elaborate remarks to
Park about how he now viewed North Korea favorably on religious freedom and
human rights.
The North Korean government ¡§decided to leniently forgive and release him,
taking his admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings into
consideration,¡¨ the Korean Central News Agency said.
The report quoted Park, of Tucson, Arizona, as saying he was ashamed of the
¡§biased¡¨ view he once held of the nation.
Park said he was now convinced ¡§there¡¦s complete religious freedom for all
people everywhere¡¨ in North Korea, citing the return of his Bible and a service
he attended at Pongsu Church in Pyongyang, KCNA said.
¡§I would not have committed such crime if I had known that the [North] respects
the rights of all the people and guarantees their freedom and they enjoy a happy
and stable life,¡¨ it quoted him as saying.
Park did not respond to questions from reporters yesterday asking whether he had
been speaking freely or under duress.
North Korea¡¦s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion but the government
severely restricts religious observance, only allowing worship ¡X primarily by
foreigners ¡X at sanctioned churches.
KCNA said Park told the news agency he had felt compelled to go to North Korea
to draw attention to reported rights abuses and mass killings.
¡§We are just elated that he¡¦s been released safely,¡¨ Madison Shockley, a Park
family pastor in Carlsbad, California, said by phone. ¡§We cannot wait for him to
land on American soil and to hear the truth of what he discovered there.¡¨
Shockley said Park¡¦s Korean-American parents were told of the release by the
State Department on Friday and were very happy but almost in shock.
¡§The mother will only truly believe it when he is in her arms,¡¨ Shockley said.
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