Straub discusses American detainees in North Korea

1 straubclintonnorthkorea In 2009, David Straub (back row 2nd from right), associate director of the Korea Program, pictured with former U.S. president Bill Clinton, met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il to free two U.S. reporters.

David Straub, the associate director of the Korea Program at Shorenstein APARC, spoke with the Voice of America about the three American citizens being held as prisoners in North Korea. On 1 Sept. 2014, the detainees called for U.S. help in videotaped interviews released by the North Korean government.

“If I were still in the U.S. government, I would be reluctant to be a party to sending extremely senior Americans to pick up Americans who have been incarcerated. At what point can you continue to do that? At what point does this become a benefit to the North Koreans, allowing them at any point to blackmail the United States?” said Straub.

Straub was part of the 2009 diplomatic mission with former U.S. president Bill Clinton to free two American journalists.