Fowle back at Ohio home after half-year detention in North Korea

By Jon Herskovitz (Reuters) - American Jeffrey Fowle returned to his home in southern Ohio on Wednesday after a tearful reunion with this family at a U.S. Air Force base in the state, and his lawyer said he was in good health after a nearly half-year detention in North Korea. Fowle, 56, had been one of three Americans held by mercurial and secretive North Korea, which typically has tried to use the release of foreign captives as a way to build domestic political support for its leaders. "Jeff would like you to know that he was treated well by the government of the DPRK and that he's currently in good health," lawyer Timothy Tepe said in comments broadcast live by Dayton, Ohio-based television station WDTN. Fowle, dressed in a brown jacket, was flanked by his wife and children as he stood near Tepe, but did not speak. Fowle needs time to adjust before addressing the media about his ordeal, Tepe said, adding that the family wanted to offer its thanks to the U.S. State Department, the Embassy of Sweden and others for securing his release. Fowle arrived on a U.S. government plane at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, where his three children and wife shared tears and hugs with him on the tarmac. The arrival of Fowle was kept secret from the children to surprise them, Tepe said. A special service was planned for Sunday at the Urbancrest Baptist Church, where the family worships. "We are rejoicing that Jeff Fowle has been released," said Tom Pendergrass, senior pastor at the church. North Korea, where health problems of young leader Kim Jong Un have raised question about his grip on power, tried to show that the release came after pleading from Washington. "Kim Jong Un, first chairman of the National Defense Commission of the DPRK, took such a special measure as setting free Jeffrey Edward Fowle, U.S. criminal, taking into consideration the repeated requests of U.S. President Obama," its official KCNA news agency said. North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 'NO QUID PRO QUO' Fowle was freed on Tuesday and flown from Pyongyang on a U.S. government plane. "There was no quid pro quo," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Berlin. Fowle was arrested in May for leaving a Bible at a sailor's club in the North Korean city of Chongjin, where he was traveling as a tourist. The isolated state, which tries to portray the Kim family that has ruled it for more than 60 years as demigods, is particularly sensitive to religious proselytizing. The White House on Tuesday said the United States welcomed the release of Fowle, a street repair worker, and pressed Pyongyang to free the two remaining Americans. Because the United States has no formal diplomatic ties with North Korea, it periodically relies on the help of Sweden, which has an embassy in North Korea and can act as a "protecting power" for Washington. The longest held is Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary arrested in November 2012 and sentenced to 15 years' hard labor. Matthew Miller, an American held in North Korea since April for "hostile acts," in September began a six-year hard labor sentence that he said involved farm work and isolation, according to media reports. U.S. officials have given no details on the negotiations that led to Fowle's release, nor speculated why Pyongyang freed him. The mayor of Moraine Ohio, Elaine Allison, offered Fowle his job back with the city and also requested media to grant the family privacy. "He has been through a lot over the last six months. There will be a time and a place for additional comments and questions directly to Jeff and the family. The next few days is not that time," Allison told a news conference attended by Fowle, who did not speak. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington, Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, James Pearson in Seoul, Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo, David Bailey in Minneapolis and Kim Palmer in Cleveland; Editing by Susan Heavey and Mohammad Zargham)