North Korea releases detained US war veteran

North Korea has freed Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old American tourist who was arrested and detained in the country in October, administration officials reported Friday.

Vice President Biden, who is in South Korea as part of a tour through Asia, applauded the news as a “bright piece of sunshine,” but said he did not play a direct role in securing Newman’s freedom.

{mosads}”The DPRK today released someone they never should have had in the first place, Mr. Newman,” Biden said.

The vice president added that he had offered Newman a ride home on Air Force Two, but instead the San Francisco native opted to take a direct flight home from Beijing.

“I don’t blame him, I’d be on that flight too,” Biden admitted.

Newman was detained for 42 days, during which North Korean television broadcast him reading a videotaped confession of “hostile acts” during his time serving in the Korean War. Korean state media reported that Newman was captured with subversive material, and had been responsible for the killing of civilians and espionage during the Korean War.

State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said in a statement that the U.S. welcomed the North Korean’s decision to release Newman.

Both Biden and Harf said that Newman’s release was a reminder of the plight of Kenneth Bae, an American citizen arrested in November 2012 after North Korean officials discovered he had copies of pictures of famished North Korean orphans.

“We call on the DPRK once again to pardon and grant Mr. Bae special amnesty and immediately release him as a humanitarian gesture so that he too can return home to his family,” Harf said. “The U.S. Government will continue to work actively on his case.”