US to continue efforts to free S. Koreans detained by N. Korea: Washington official

Jung Pak, third from left, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and Lee Shin-hwa, fourth from left, South Korea's envoy for the North's human rights, pose for a photo at the U.S. embassy in Seoul with families of those detained by the North Korean authorities, Feb. 7. Yonhap

The United States will continue efforts to seek the release of South Koreans detained in North Korea, a state department official said Tuesday.

Jung Pak, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, stressed the U.S. has "closely coordinated" with Seoul on the issue at a meeting with South Koreans with family members detained across the inter-Korean border.

"The U.S. calls for the immediate release of all those who are unlawfully detained, and remains committed to promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms for all," Pak said at the meeting held at the U.S. embassy in Seoul.

Lee Shin-hwa, South Korea's envoy for the North's human rights who also attended the meeting, called for Seoul to play a more active role to address the issue.

Currently, six South Koreans, including three pastors, are being detained in North Korea on charges of committing what Pyongyang called anti-North Korea crimes.

Kim Jeong-sam, an elder brother of Kim Jung-wook, a missionary detained in the North since 2013, gave Pak a handwritten letter, asking it to be delivered to U.S. President Joe Biden.

"My heart aches to see North Korea holding my younger brother as a spy … I pray every day for the release and repatriation of my brother," the letter read. (Yonhap)