Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and Google chairman Eric Schmidt left Monday for what the politician called a private trip to North Korea, where a US citizen is being held awaiting trial.
“This is a private humanitarian mission, not connected to the US government,” said Richardson, also a former US ambassador to the United Nations, at Beijing’s airport before boarding his flight.
“We’re going to be in Pyongyang, probably for two and a half days. We may go outside the city. We will find out when we arrive,” he said.
Kenneth Bae, an American of Korean descent, is being held in North Korea and his son contacted Richardson to ask for his help, the former governor said last week.
North Korea has in the past agreed to hand over detainees to high-profile delegations led by the likes of former US president Bill Clinton, and some observers suggested it may have requested Schmidt’s participation in this case.
But the US State Department has voiced concerns about the trip, saying it was ill-timed in the wake of Pyongyang’s widely condemned rocket launch last month.
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