The US is calling on North Korea to free three American detainees, after Pyongyang brought the three out of gulag to speak with foreign news outlets, a complete surprise to the CNN and Associated Press reporters who were allowed into the hermit kingdom to cover a completely unrelated story.

“Out of humanitarian concern for Jeffrey Fowle, Matthew Miller, and their families, we request the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) release them so they may return home,” said US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.  “We also request the DPRK pardon Kenneth Bae and grant him special amnesty and immediate release so he may reunite with his family and seek medical care.”

The reporters were in North Korea covering a thoroughly ridiculous story about a bunch of professional wrestlers from Japan led by Antonio Inoki and Bob Sapp who put on a goodwill show.  The reporters were pulled away from their official tour and taken to a Pyongyang hotel where their surprise interviews were waiting.

46-year old evangelical Christian Kenneth Bae has been held in North Korea since 2012, was convicted of trying to undermine the state, and sentenced to a labor camp, where he works eight hours a day, six days a week at agricultural and heavy labor.  He told the western reporters that he had been hospitalized for health problems that included back pain, a sleep disorder and weight loss.

56-year old Jeffrey Fowler openly worried to the reporters about losing his job as a street department worker in Ohio, because he has been detained in North Korea for four months.  He was arrested for leaving a bible in a nightclub, because Christian proselytizing is banned in North Korea.

24-year old Matthew Todd Miller’s case might be a little more complicated.  He showed up at North Korean customs a few weeks ago, tearing up his tourist visa and demanding asylum.

Thin, gaunt, and stuttering through his brief time with the western reporters, Miller rarely made eye contact and didn’t even use the entire five minutes he was granted by North Korea.  “My situation is very urgent, that very soon I am going to trial, and I would directly be sent to prison," Miller told CNN. 

Even emphasized that the US government should do something to get them out, suggesting that their North Korean captors had orchestrated what they would say.  Observers believe that overall, Pyongyang is telling the world that it is seeking direct talks with the US government.

“The North Koreans are sending signals to the US that they are ready to deal,” said former US Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson, who has much experience in negotiating with North Korean leaders for release of detained Americans.  “Specifically, they are saying that the three Americans are bargaining chips.”