WASHINGTON, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - The US Department of State has no knowledge of US President Barack Obama ever formally asking North Korea to release US prisoners, and any future apology from the United States is unlikely, the department's spokesperson said Thursday.
"I've not talked to our team about it, but I can assure anyone that I don't believe there is an apology forthcoming," Jen Psaki, spokesperson for the US State Department, said during the press briefing.
North Korean state media claimed on Wednesday that Korean leader Kim Jong Un had ordered to release Jeffrey Fowle, a US national detained in April, after receiving "repeated requests" from US President Barack Obama.
Pyongyang also said the United States needed to formally apologize to the government of North Korea in order to secure the release of the remaining two Americans.
Fowle, 56 was arrested in May after leaving a Bible in a sailor's club in the North Korean city of Chongjin. He was released on Tuesday and handed over to US officials.
After Fowle's release, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the United States would now focus on the release of two other American citizens, currently imprisoned in North Korea.
Kenneth Bae, an American Christian missionary of Korean origin, was detained in 2012 and received a 15-year sentence the following year for allegedly plotting a religious insurrection in North Korea.
Another US national, Matthew Miller, was arrested in April after he tore up his North Korean visa, expressing a wish to experience prison life to investigate the human rights situation in the country. Accused of espionage, he was sentenced to six years in a labor camp.
