Kim Hak-song worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) and was held on 6 May, state-run news agency KCNA said.

Three other US citizens are currently held in North Korea, including Kim Sang-duck, who had taught at PUST.

The US has in the past accused North Korea of detaining its citizens to use them as pawns.

KCNA said that “a relevant institution” was “conducting [a] detailed investigation” into Kim Hak-song’s alleged crimes.

It gave no further details.

A State Department official said Washington was “aware of reports that a US citizen was detained in North Korea”, adding it would liaise with the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which helps look after US interests in North Korea.

Kim Hak-song had previously described himself as a Christian missionary who intended to start an experimental farm at PUST, Reuters news agency reported, citing an online post by Mr Kim.

PUST is a university that mostly teaches the children of North Korea’s elite.

It was founded in 2010 by a Korean-American Christian entrepreneur, with much of the costs funded by US and South Korea Christian charities.

Several foreign lecturers are thought to teach at the university.

The detention comes amid heightened tensions between North Korea and the US.

Pyongyang has threatened to carry out a new nuclear test – while the US has sent a warship to the region and vowed to stop the North from developing nuclear weapons.

On Friday, North Korea accused US and South Korean agents of plotting to kill its Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un.

The US and South Korean governments did not comment on the allegations, but experts were sceptical about the claim.

Kim Hak-song’s arrest makes him the fourth US citizen to be held by Pyongyang.

The other US detainees are:

• Kim Sang-duck, a lecturer who taught at PUST and was detained in April for allegedly attempting to “overturn” the government. South Korean media said he was 55 and had been involved in humanitarian work in the North
• Kim Dong-chul, 62, who was sentenced to 10 years’ hard labour for spying last year.
• Student Otto Warmbier, 22, who was sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel

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Source: BBC

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The man was identified only by his surname, Kim.

He becomes the third American to be detained by the North; one has been sentenced for spying, the other for trying to steal a sign from a hotel.

The latest detention comes amid high tension on the peninsula, with the US warning its “strategic patience” on the North’s nuclear programme is over.

A US naval battle group headed by an aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, and described by President Donald Trump as an “armada”, is expected to reach the Korean peninsula later in the week.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap said the detained American citizen, in his 50s, was a former professor from Yanbian University in China and had been in North Korea for a month in connection with relief programmes.

He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport, Yonhap said.

In January last year, US student Otto Warmbier, 21, was arrested for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel while visiting North Korea.

He was given 15 years’ hard labour for crimes against the state in March 2016.

In April last year, Kim Dong-chul, a 62-year-old naturalised US citizen born in South Korea, was sentenced to 10 years’ hard labour for spying. He had been arrested the previous October.

The US has in the past accused North Korea of detaining its citizens to use them as pawns.

After the brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was murdered recently in Malaysia, Malaysian citizens in Pyongyang were arrested and held until North Koreans suspected of the murder were released in Kuala Lumpur.

Tension remains high on the peninsula following the North’s recent failed missile test and massive military parade showing off its latest hardware.

North Korea has said it is ready to sink the Carl Vinson, and on Sunday said it would strike Australia with nuclear weapons if it remained an ally of the United States.

North Korea’s aim is to develop nuclear weapons small enough to put on ballistic missiles, but there is no evidence yet it has done so, or that it has missiles with the range to reach long-distance targets.

This week US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on a tour of Asian nations, said the US was “reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang”.

North Korean media responded by warning of an unspecified “super-mighty pre-emptive strike”.

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Source: BBC

The post North Korea ‘detains American citizen’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.