North Korea deports American even as it boasts of new weapon

WASHINGTON — North Korea on Friday deported an American citizen it says it detained for illegal entry, a U.S. official said, an apparent concession that came even as the reclusive nation announced the test of a newly developed but unspecified “ultramodern” weapon that will be seen as a pressuring tactic by Washington.

The two whiplash announcements, which seemed aimed at both appeasing and annoying Washington, suggest North Korea wants to keep alive dialogue with the United States, even as it struggles to express its frustration at stalled nuclear diplomacy.

North Korea in the past has held arrested American citizens for an extended period before high-profile U.S. 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 Oct. 16 for illegally entering the country from China. It said he told investigators that he was under the “manipulation” of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. It was not clear if the North’s spelling of the man’s name was correct, and past reports from Pyongyang have contained incorrect spellings.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday expressed appreciation for the cooperation of North Korea and the embassy of Sweden — which handles consular issues for U.S. citizens in North Korea — “in facilitating the release of an American citizen.” His brief statement provided no further details.

A U.S. official said the man had left North Korea and was on a flight back to the United States. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. He provided no other details.

The North’s decision matches its general push for engagement and diplomacy with the United States this year after a string of weapons tests in 2017, and a furious U.S. 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 Pompeo.

The United States, South Korea and others have previously accused North Korea of using foreign detainees to wrest diplomatic concessions.

[AP FILE PHOTO] In this March 12, 2014, file photo, a North Korean soldier, center top, looks at the southern side as three South Korean soldiers guard at the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, South Korea.