Time stands still, freedom comes fast in North Korea, say Americans once held there
Freedom can come with remarkable swiftness for U.S. citizens
held prisoner by North Korea, an experience that may await three Americans
currently detained by the reclusive nation.
After months and even years of hardship, former detainees often
say they found themselves boarding a U.S. plane and flown out of the country
less than an hour after being told by their captors that they were going home.
Ahead of a diplomatic thaw and planned summit between
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, there were reports
the detainees were relocated from a labour camp to a hotel near the North
Korean capital of Pyongyang, raising speculation they could be released.
“They didn’t tell me anything about my release until the
last minute. I was in the hospital and taken to a hotel,” the longest-held
American in North Korea, Kenneth Bae, said in an interview from South Korea.
Once informed of his release in 2014, an American delegation
came in and within 30 minutes he was aboard an aeroplane to take him out of
North Korea. From there it was a 24-hour journey via Guam and Hawaii home to
Seattle, where his family was waiting.
While a prisoner, Bae was forced to shovel coal and haul
rocks. He had about 30 guards watching him as their sole prisoner during his
two years in captivity, which included hospital stays for the beating his body
took from the hard labour.
Since the end of the Korean War, North Korea has taken 17
Americans captive, many of whom were in the country for humanitarian reasons
inspired by their Christian faith. Bae and the three Americans currently being
held - Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim and Kim Dong-chul - fall into that category.
In North Korea, where the Kim family that has ruled the
country for more than 70 years is revered as demigods, proselytizing is seen as
an assault on the state, punishable by years of hard labour.
Isolated from the world, time seems to halt, former
detainees say. Confinement for the Americans detained by North Korea can range
from hotel rooms to cramped, windowless shacks offering little protection from
the country’s bitter cold.
Former prisoners, who also have included tourists and
journalists, have said they were interrogated for hours and suffered mental
humiliation. A few said the isolation led them to consider suicide.
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