THREATS

North Korea Blackmailing Kenneth Bae

Shut up or no more U.S. releases.

North Korea won’t negotiate with the U.S. over two American citizens being detained until former inmate Kenneth Bae agrees to stop talking about his time in the Hermit Kingdom. Bae was arrested by North Korea in November 2012 and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor for crimes against the state. He was released after two years. Bae wrote a memoir of his experience in detention, and he’s given interviews in addition to public appearances. The North’s state-run KCNA news agency said: “As long as Kenneth Bae continues his babbling, we will not proceed with any compromise or negotiations with the United States on the subject of American criminals, and there will certainly not be any such thing as humanitarian action.”