WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — An Ohio man detained for nearly half a year in North Korea has landed back home.
A plane carrying Jeffrey Fowle landed Wednesday morning at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton.
The State Department announced Tuesday that the 56-year-old Miamisburg resident had been released. The news came about six months after he was taken into custody after leaving a Bible at a nightclub. Christian evangelism is considered a crime in North Korea.
“We’d like to thank God for his hand of protection over Jeff these past six months,” Tim Tepe, attorney for Jeffrey Fowle, told reporters in Miamisburg, Ohio. Fowle, who stood near the attorney with his family, made no statement himself, but nodded and gave a thumbs-up sign after a reporter asked how he felt.
Fowle had been awaiting trial — the only one of three Americans held by Pyongyang who had not been convicted of charges.
The two others were each sentenced to years in North Korean prisons after court trials that lasted no more than 90 minutes. The three Americans entered North Korea separately.
