KCNA / Reuters
The U.S. State Department has asked North Korea to immediately pardon and release Matthew Miller, an American who was sentenced Sunday to six years of hard labor, along with the other Americans detained. State Department spokesman Darby Holladay said a pardon was also requested for American Kenneth Bae, who has been serving a sentence of 15 years of hard labor. The U.S. asked North Korea to “grant them amnesty and immediate release so they may reunite with their families,” said Holladay, as well as requesting an immediate release for the third detained American, Jeffrey Fowle, “out of humanitarian concern for [him] and his family.” Fowle’s trial date has yet to be set, but if it is anything like Bae or Miller’s, his fate is already sealed. Miller’s trial lasted just 90 minutes, and he was sentenced without any chance of an appeal.