North Korea detains third US citizen
SEOUL: North Korea detained a US citizen on Friday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, bringing the total number of Americans held by the isolated country to three.
The man, a Korean-American in his fifties identified only by his surname Kim, had been in North Korea for a month to discuss relief activities, Yonhap said on Sunday. He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport on his way out of the country.
The man was a former professor at Yanbian University of Science and Technology. North Korea was already holding two Americans. Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old student, was detained in January last year and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour by a North Korean court for attempting to steal a propaganda banner.
In March 2016, Korean-American Kim Dong Chul, 62, was sentenced to 10 years hard labour for subversion.
The man, a Korean-American in his fifties identified only by his surname Kim, had been in North Korea for a month to discuss relief activities, Yonhap said on Sunday. He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport on his way out of the country.
The man was a former professor at Yanbian University of Science and Technology. North Korea was already holding two Americans. Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old student, was detained in January last year and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour by a North Korean court for attempting to steal a propaganda banner.
In March 2016, Korean-American Kim Dong Chul, 62, was sentenced to 10 years hard labour for subversion.