North Korean detainee reunites with family

WEST CARROLLTON, Ohio -- An American arrested and held for nearly six months in North Korea for leaving a Bible at a nightclub returned home Wednesday to tears of joy and hugs from his wife and surprised children.

A plane carrying Jeffrey Fowle, who was released with help from a retired diplomat and former Ohio congressman, landed Wednesday morning at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, where he was reunited with his family.

Moments after Fowle stepped off the plane, his three children and wife ran from a nearby airplane hangar and shared hugs.

Base Col. John Devillier said Fowle had a tearful reunion and that Fowle seemed thrilled.

"We had a great reunion for an American citizen coming home," he said.

Devillier said Fowle's family hadn't told the children why they were being brought to the base.

"The reaction from his children was priceless," Devillier said.

The surprise was the work of Fowle's wife, Tatyana, who only told the children they weren't going to school Wednesday.

"Jeff likes surprises," Tatyana Fowle said Wednesday afternoon at a news conference in Moraine. Jeffrey Fowle stood beside her and smiled at times, but he did not make any statements or answer questions.

Tony Hall, a retired diplomat and former Ohio congressman who used his connections with North Korean officials to discuss Fowle's case, said he was excited about Fowle's release.

A lot of people were involved, he said, but he declined to name the officials in Pyongyang to whom he reached out. He said he was never asked by the U.S. or North Korea to go to Pyongyang on Fowle's behalf.

The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, along with China and Japan and envoys from Mongolia, also were involved, Hall said.

Hall said he got involved at the request of Fowle's family and attorney, as well as the State Department.

"So I spent a lot of time communicating and trying to use some of the relations I'd built up over the years," Hall told The Associated Press on Wednesday.