North Korea to deport US man held for illegal entry

NORTH Korea has said it will deport an American citizen it detained for illegal entry, an apparent concession to the US that came even as it announced the test of a new “ultramodern” weapon that will be seen as a pressuring tactic by Washington.

The two announcements, which seemed aimed at both appeasing and annoying Washing- ton, suggest Pyongyang wants to keep alive dialogue with the US even as it struggles to express its frustration at stalled nuclear diplomacy.

In the past, North Korea has held arrested American citizens for an extended period before high-profile US figures travelled to Pyongyang to secure their freedom.

Last year, American university student Otto Warmbier died days after he was released in a coma from North Korea after 17 months in captivity.

On Friday, the Korean Central News Agency said American national Bruce Byron Lowrance was detained on October 16 for illegally entering the country from China. It said he told investigators he was under the “manipulation” of the CIA.

A short KCNA dispatch said North Korea decided to deport him but did not say why and when.

The North’s decision matches its general push for engagement and diplomacy with the US this year after a string of weapons tests in 2017, and a furious US response, had some fearing war on the Korean peninsula.

In May, North Korea released three American detainees in a goodwill gesture weeks ahead of leader Kim Jong Un’s June 12 summit with President Donald Trump in Singapore. The three Americans returned home on a flight with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo. Weeks after the summit, North Korea returned the remains of dozens of presumed US soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The US, South Korea and others have previously accused North Korea of using foreign detainees to win concessions. Some foreigners have said after their release that their declarations of guilt had been coerced while in North Korean custody.