South Korea working for release of its citizens held in North Korea

Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun

South Korea will continue to make active efforts to secure the release of six South Koreans detained in North Korea, the Unification Ministry said Wednesday, amid reports that the release of U.S. citizens held in the communist country is imminent.

"Our government has worked to resolve the detainee issue through inter-Korean talks and cooperation with the international community, and it will continue to make active efforts to bring back those detainees as soon as possible," Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said during a regular press briefing.

Currently, six South Koreans are held in North Korea, most of whom were said to have been taken to the country near the North-China border.

They include three pastors -- Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil -- who were sentenced to hard labor for life on charges of spying for South Korea's spy agency.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier arrived in Pyongyang to prepare for a summit between the two countries and possibly to bring three U.S. citizens detained in the North home.

His trip to Pyongyang came in the wake of a surprise summit earlier this week between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Chinese northeastern city of Dalian.

The spokesman said the summit, the second of its kind in more than a month, will be helpful in achieving denuclearization of the North and building lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap)

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