North Korea showcases detained U.S. pensioner as war criminal

By using Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea accused a detained U.S. veteran on Saturday of killing civilians during the Korean War 60 years ago and showed a video of the eighty five-year-previous making a full confession and apology as if the battles are still raging. The North's KCNA information company said Merrill E. Newman, a former different forces officer, was once a mastermind of clandestine operations and had confessed to being "responsible of a protracted listing of indelible crimes against DPRK government and Korean individuals." In the patchy video, Newman appears composed and is proven reading aloud from a handwritten statement dated Nov 9, 2013 in a wood-paneled meeting room. "I understand that I can’t be forgiven for my offensives (offenses) however I beg for pardon on my knees by apologizing for my offensives (offenses) honestly toward the DPRK govt and the Korean folks and I need no longer punish me (I wish to not be punished)," Newman, who has a coronary heart rhythm disorder, used to be quoted as saying by way of KCNA. DPRK is brief for the North's formal name, the Democratic Folks's Republic of Korea.