Korean-American Bae Jun-ho, who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor by North Korea on charges of espionage, recently spoke with family members over the phone.

His mother, Bae Myung-hee, is now based in Seattle and told Reuters during an interview on Friday that she spoke with her son on April 23 and that he said he was well.

Terri Chung, Bae Jun-ho’s sister, said in a CNN interview that she spoke with her brother last week for the first time in six months after his arrest in North Korea. She said Bae calmly asked about his parents’ health.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said during a regular briefing that it had nothing to say on Bae’s imprisonment other than the fact that it is maintaining lines of communication with North Korea.