Jeffrey Fowle provided details of his North Korean captivity in a candid interview on Friday.
The American Christian revealed why he broke the law by bringing a Bible into the atheist country, and said that he was surprised the North Korean government released him.
Before his trip to North Korea on April 29, Fowle bought an English-Korean Bible. He claimed that touring the country was his primary purpose for the trip, but also felt compelled to "to carry the Gospel to all corners of the Earth."
"I knew it was a risk, that I was taking a gamble, but I felt compelled to do that to aid the underground church in some small way," he told the Daily Mail.
Proselytising is considered a crime in North Korea, and Christians face immense persecution in the communist nation.
Fowle, 56, chose to leave the Bible under a trash bin in a nightclub in Chongjin. "I felt once I left the Bible somewhere that God would take it the rest of the way into the hands of some kind of Christian organisation, and I'd be able to waltz out of [the] country fat, dumb and happy, no problem," he said. "But God had other plans."
The Ohioan admitted to the crime after being confronted by his tour guide, and was taken into custody at Customs before his departure. Fowle was questioned in a hotel room for three weeks, and was confined for 23.5 hours per day while officials tried to determine if he had acted alone.
During a six month incarceration in a secure facility, he was allowed to give news interviews, and pleaded for US leaders to secure his release. When guards came for him on October 21, the husband and father of three said he thought he was being transferred to prison. Instead, the North Korean government – under increased scrutiny for their human rights abuses – was releasing him.
If given the chance, Fowle said he would not leave a Bible in North Korea again, but admitted that he learned a lot from the experience.
"You don't know what you've got until it's taken away from you forcibly," he explained. "You don't appreciate what you've got."
Fowle will return to his job as an equipment operator in the city of Moraine. American citizens Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller remain imprisoned in North Korea.
