Four members of the U.S. Congress have sent a letter to the leader of North Korea, asking him to release imprisoned American missionary Kenneth Bae. In the letter, the congressmen commended the North Korean government for releasing 85-year-old Korean War veteran Merrill E. Newman, and asked that they do the same for Kenneth Bae.

 

Bae has been held for more than a year by North Korea, which convicted him of trying to overthrow the state and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor. Bae recently gave his "confession", in which he admitted his wrongdoing and asked the U.S. government to make more active efforts to secure his release.