US to send envoy to DPRK to free missionary

Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary who has been detained in North Korea for more than a year, appears before a limited number of media outlets in Pyongyang, in this photo taken by Kyodo January 20, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Bae's appeal came days after North Korea demanded that South Korea and the United States halt annual military drills due in February and March and offered the South a halt to hostilities.

The DPRK's official Rodong Sinmun continued the conciliatory note in a commentary carried on Tuesday saying the state was open to friendly ties with any country "on a basis of mutual respect and equality, even with capitalist countries."

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said on Tuesday in Seoul that the United States and South Korea were concerned about the prospect of "further reckless behaviour" from Pyongyang.

In 2013, the DPRK launched a months-long barrage of threats against South Korea, Japan and the United States, saying it would stage missile and nuclear strikes, triggering a sharp escalations in tensions and military deployments.

Burns said that both Washington and Seoul were willing to return to "credible" talks but only if Pyongyang was committed to "authentic negotiations aimed at denuclearisation".

He did not comment on Bae.

The DPRK has undertaken three nuclear weapons tests and used its civil nuclear programme as a cover to develop weapons. Pyongyang says that it will never give up its nuclear ambitions which it says are a deterrent against aggression.

Pictures of the Bae's press conference released by the North's KCNA news agency showed Bae in a drab grey prison uniform and baseball cap, although he appeared to be in reasonable health.

The DPRK's Supreme Court had said Bae used his tourism business as a cover to recruit people to overthrow the government.

KCNA reported that Bae acknowledged he had broken the DPRK laws and said he wanted to clarify "misinformation" surrounding his incarceration that had "enraged" the DPRK.

"I, availing myself of this opportunity, call on the US government, media and my family to stop linking any smear campaign against the DPRK and false materials with me, making my situation worse," Bae was quoted by KCNA as saying.

"I hope that I will be pardoned by the DPRK and go back to my family. I request the US government, media and my family to pay deep concern and make all efforts to this end," he added, according to KCNA.