taking quite a long time for improvement. what do you know about his health conditions at this point? >> he's been hospitalized since august. so you can see it's quite a long time. some of his chronic conditions have been improved some but he has a severe back injury that doesn't allow him to stand for more than 30 minutes at a time. so he's still in the hospital. you know, we're gravely concerned about his health. >> are you hearing word from folks in north korea at all about any hope that there's some movement, particularly following recent efforts to secure his release here in the united states and from those who are pushing the north korean government to take action on this? >> unfortunately, there hasn't been much communication. an envoy was supposed to go at the end of august with ambassador bob kaine. that was turned back.