A US special envoy will travel to North Korea on Friday on a humanitarian mission focused on securing the release of US citizen Kenneth Bae, the State Department said on Tuesday.
The special envoy, Robert King, will travel at the invitation of Pyongyang.
Bae was arrested in North in November 2012 and was convicted on April 30 by the North Korean Supreme Court of committing hostile acts against North Korea and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour.
King will ask Pyongyang to pardon Bae and grant him special amnesty on humanitarian grounds so that he can be reunited with his family and seek medical treatment, the State Department said in a statement.
Bae, 45, suffers from chronic diabetes and other health problems, his family has said. He lost roughly 110 kilograms while in a prison work camp, family members told the Washington Post. Earlier this month he was moved to a hospital