North Korea releases 1 of 3 Americans held captive

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials viewed North Korea's unexpected release Tuesday of a detained American as a welcome development — even as it was accompanied by brash North Korean rhetoric over its nuclear ambitions.

Jeffrey Fowle, one of three Americans held captive, was on an Air Force plane heading back to his home state of Ohio — released after being detained for nearly six months. Two other Americans, Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae, continue to be held in North Korea.

Fowle, 56, a city worker from Miamisburg, Ohio, traveled to North Korea in April on a tourist visa and was detained by state police in May after allegedly leaving a Bible at a nightclub.

In rarely permitted interviews last month with CNN and the Associated Press, the three captives urged U.S. officials to come to North Korea to make a direct appeal. North Korea is in a dispute with the United States over its nuclear weapons program.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf declined to comment on the negotiations behind the release, saying two Americans remained in captivity, and "obviously, we want to preserve our ability to get them home as well."

She said U.S. officials "remain deeply concerned about the ongoing, systematic and widespread human rights violations" in North Korea, and "our goal is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

Even as it released Fowle, North Korea pushed back on both those issues. Monday, North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Jang Il Hun, told Voice of America that nuclear talks were pointless as long as "America continues to press us on the human rights issue." In a statement through the official state news agency, KCNA, the regime called its nuclear program a "treasured sword of justice protecting the nation from the U.S. nuclear blackmail."

Fowle's release "is a slight opening in a still hostile relationship," said Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador and New Mexico governor who has negotiated with North Korea over prisoner releases.

"The message is that they're ready to start a dialog with the United States. The fact that they did not require a special envoy or a price for this release is a good sign," he told USA TODAY. "The way I see it, they are starting to realize that their hard-line tactics, their excessive rhetoric, is not working."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest credited Sweden for the "tireless efforts of their embassy in Pyongyang" in helping to facilitate the release. The Swedish Embassy represents Americans' interests in the North Korean capital because the United States has no formal diplomatic relations with North Korea.

As a condition of the release, North Korea asked the U.S. government to pick up Fowle immediately, and the Department of Defense flew a jet to North Korea on its timetable, Earnest said. The Associated Press, whose journalists spotted the American jet in Pyongyang on Tuesday, first reported the release.

That jet departed for Guam, Harf said. "He has been evaluated by a doctor and appears to be in good health," she said.

A lawyer for the Fowle family, Timothy N. Tepe of Lebanon, Ohio,confirmed that Fowle was on his way back to Ohio on Tuesday.

Follow @gregorykorte and @djusatoday on Twitter.