This 2005 file photo provided by the Palo Alto Weekly shows Merrill Newman, a retired finance executive and Red Cross volunteer, in Palo Alto, Calif. North Korea said Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013, that it has deported the elderly U.S. tourist.SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Saturday it has deported an elderly U.S. tourist who was detained for more than a month, apparently ending the saga of Merrill Newman’s return to the North six decades after he advised South Korean guerrillas still loathed by Pyongyang.
North Korea made the decision because the 85-year-old Newman had apologized for his alleged crimes during the Korean War and because of his age and medical condition, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who is traveling in Seoul, welcomed the release and said Newman was in Beijing. Aside from an awkwardly worded alleged confession last month, Newman has yet to speak publicly since being taken off a plane Oct. 26 by North Korean authorities while preparing to leave the country after a 10-day tour.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf urged Pyongyang to pardon “as a humanitarian gesture” another American, Kenneth Bae, who has been held in the North for more than a year.
Members of a group of former South Korean guerrillas who fought behind enemy lines during the 1950-53 Korean War said in an interview last week with The Associated Press that Newman was their adviser. Some have expressed surprise that Newman would take the risk of visiting North Korea given his association with their group, which is still remembered with keen hatred in the North.