We are all probably aware that American college student Otto Warmbier was recently sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea. However, many of us had already forgotten about another American being held by North Korea: Kim Dong Chul, born in South Korea but now a naturalized U.S. businessman. These two, along with South Korean-born Canadian citizen Lim Hyeon-soo, are apparently the only Westerners currently held hostage in North Korea.

Over the past several years, there have been numerous U.S. hostages sentenced to harsh prison terms for trivial offenses. Most of them have been held for varying periods until a high-ranking American went to North Korea to secure their release. Some were irresponsible tourists, a couple were arrogant newspaper people and several others were Christian missionaries. All of them were rescued through the efforts of former U.S. presidents or other senior-level government officials.