Kenneth Bae, the American citizen jailed in North Korea since 2012, admitted in a statement Monday he's in jail because he committed a crime. In the same statement, Bae pleaded with the U.S. to help facilitate his release, ABC News reported.
Bae, a missionary who ran a company that gave tours in North Korea, told reporters in Pyongyang he wants to be a "connecting bridge for the friendship between North Korea and the western world," ABC News reported.
Bae was arrested in November 2012 on accusations of crimes against North Korea. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. At the Monday press conference, which was reportedly requested by Bae, the prisoner said he's in jail because he carried out a "serious crime" against the state.
"I am deeply aware of my crimes, but I hope to have an opportunity to become a bridge to connect the friendship between North Korea and the western world," Bae said, according to ABC News.
Bae's statement comes less than a month after former NBA star Dennis Rodman outraged Bae's family by suggesting in an interview that Bae deserved to be jailed.
"I believe that my problem can be solved by close cooperation and agreement between the American government and the government of this country," Bae said, according to ABC News.
Bae also added that North Korea protects human rights.
"Not only did the government not abuse my human rights, but rather provided numerous humanitarian support," Bae told the Chinese-state run news agency Xinhua, according to ABC News.
However, experts say that Bae's statement should not be considered genuine. North Korea is known for making prisoners give false confessions. An 85-year-old Korean War veteran was freed from a North Korean jail in December after he was forced to make a false confession, CNN reported.
"We shouldn't take Kenneth Bae's comments merely as his own," Kim Jin Moo, a North Korea expert at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, told ABC News. "The reason why North Korea had Kenneth Bae make this statement...is that hey want Washington to reach out to them.
"Bae's comments are an appeal to Washington to actively persuade Pyongyang to release him," Moo told ABC News.
