Missionary wants US to get him home

TOKYO - US missionary Kenneth Bae, imprisoned in North Korea for more than a year, said on Monday he wants to return to his family as soon as possible and hopes the United States will help, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

Bae, 45, was jailed for 15 years of hard labor for state subversion in North Korea, where he was detained in 2012 while leading a tour group.

North Korea's Supreme Court said he used his tourism business to form groups aimed at overthrowing the government.

Bae met "a limited number of media outlets" in the North Korean capital Pyongyang and expressed hope of the United States securing his release, Kyodo said.

Retired US basketball star Dennis Rodman angered many people in the United States with an interview this month in North Korea in which he implied that Bae was to blame for his incarceration rather than the authorities.

Rodman later apologized and said he had been drunk.