Two American tourists being held in North Korea have called on the U.S. government to help secure their release from the isolated country, in an interview with the Associated Press Television Network.
North Korea has said Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle, held since early May, would be put on trial for crimes against the state, according to the AP.
"I am now requesting help from the American government, the citizens of America and the world to release me from this situation," Miller, 24, from Bakersfield, California, said in the interview, recorded in Pyongyang on Friday, the AP reported.
The video also showed a handwritten letter from Fowle, 56, of Miamisburg, Ohio, that said he was arrested for leaving a bible at a site visited by his tour group in the northern city of Chongjin, according to the AP.
"I feel a great urgency to get back to my family! Please help me come back home!," the letter said, the AP reported. Fowle said of the letter: "My aim is to get that message out to as many people who can hear it, to help us come home."
Both men were talking to someone off camera. Neither made eye contact with the camera, according to the AP. It was not clear if the interview was given in the presence of North Korean government officials.
A source familiar with Fowle's arrest confirmed to Reuters that Fowle left the bible at the Chongjin Seamen's Club, a faded compound originally designed for visiting mariners to the industrial port town in North Korea's east, the AP reported.
North Korean authorities arrested Miller for ripping up his tourist visa and attempting to claim political asylum, state media said, according to the AP.He was travelling alone, said a statement published on the website of Uri Tours, the travel agency that arranged Miller's trip to North Korea.
North Korea has three U.S. citizens in custody, including Kenneth Bae, a missionary of Korean descent who was arrested in November 2012 and convicted and sentenced to 15 years hard labour last year, the AP reported.
Bae said he feels abandoned by his government and has appealed again for help in securing his release, a pro-North Korean newspaper reported on Thursday, according to the AP.
