With the denial of consular access to two U.S. citizens detained in North Korea continuing for months, the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which acts on behalf of the United States, said it is currently making all-out efforts to accelerate their safe return home.
Torkel Stiernlöf, Swedish ambassador to Pyongyang, told VOA this week the communist state's detention of American citizens is one of the embassy's primary concerns.
Over the past year, North Korea locked up two American citizens for crimes against the state. One of the detainees is Kim Dong Chul, a South Korean-born U.S. citizen, was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in April on charges of espionage and stealing state secrets. Kim has reportedly not been allowed consular access since his arrest.
Kim's sentence came on the heels of a 15-year sentence given to Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student suspected of stealing a propaganda poster from a North Korean hotel.
The U.S. State Department is urging U.S. citizens to avoid travel to the North. At least 14 U.S. citizens have been detained in the country in the past 10 years, according to the State Department