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North Korea detainee 'apology'

North Korea have released a video showing an elderly US citizen apologising for alleged war crimes during the Korean War.

85-year-old Merrill Newman was seized from a flight out of Pyongyang on October 26, and has been detained ever since.

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US citizen 'held in North Korea since October 26'

The wife of Merrill Newman, the 85-year-old Korean War veteran being held in North Korea, said her husband was being detained following a "misunderstanding" as he was leaving the country on October 26, the New York Daily News reports.

Read: Family concern over 85-year-old held in North Korea

In a statement released by the nursing where home the couple live, Lee Newman said her husband had been planning the trip for some time, and had permission to visit.

The postcards sent to friends while on that trip described a good time, good weather, and knowledgeable guides.

Just before the Asiana airline flight was to depart from Beijing on that Saturday Merrill, already seated, was approached by a Korean official, and escorted off the plane. He has been detained somewhere in North Korea since that time.

We have no word on the state of his health, whether or not the medications sent to him through the Swedish embassy in North Korea have been delivered or why he was detained.

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