U.S. Urging North Korea to Release Detained American -- He's 85 Years Old and on Heart Meds

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Dave Urbanski

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is urging North Korea to release an 85-year-old American who's been detained for more than a month.

This 2005 photo provided by the Palo Alto Weekly shows Merrill Newman, a retired finance executive and Red Cross volunteer, in Palo Alto, Calif. (Image source: AP/Palo Alto Weekly, Nicholas Wright)

Retired finance executive Merrill Newman, who fought in the Korean War, was taken off a plane Oct. 26 by North Korean authorities while preparing to leave after a 10-day visit.

Newman's son has said his father wanted to return to the country where he spent three years during the war.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden says that given Newman's age and health — he's on heart medication — North Korea should release him so he can be reunited with his family.

North Korea state media claims Newman apologized for alleged crimes during the war and for "hostile acts" against the North during his trip.

There was no direct word from Newman and the claim couldn't be independently confirmed.

"After I killed so many civilians and (North Korean) soldiers and destroyed strategic objects in the DPRK during the Korean War, I committed indelible offensive acts against the DPRK government and Korean people,” Newman allegedly said in his statement provided by KCNA Saturday, CNN noted.

His statement ends: “If I go back to (the) USA, I will tell the true features of the DPRK and the life the Korean people are leading.”

More from CNN:

In addition to this statement, KCNA ran a story alleging Newman came to North Korea with a tourist group in October and afterward "perpetrated acts of infringing upon the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK and slandering its socialist system."

This story claimed that Newman tried to "look for spies and terrorists who conducted espionage and subversive activities against the DPRK."

Investigators determined that, as a member of the U.S. military, he "masterminded espionage and subversive activities ... and, in this course, he was involved in the killings of service personnel of the Korean People's Army and innocent civilians."

"The investigation clearly proved Newman's hostile acts against the DPRK, and they were backed by evidence," the KCNA story added. "He admitted all his crimes and made an apology for them."

Pyongyang has been accused of previously coercing statements from detainees, the AP reported, and that it wasn’t clear what would happen to Newman now.

The U.S. is also concerned about another American held in North Korea, Kenneth Bae, who was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced in May to 15 years of hard labor, CNN reported. The North Korean government has said Bae, described by friends as a devout Christian, was found guilty of "hostile acts" and attempts to topple the government.

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