By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter
North Korea said Thursday it had detained an American man who illegally entered its territory from China earlier this week, its second arrest of a U.S. citizen in a month.
The man was detained Monday and is under investigation, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said without identifying the person.
"An American was detained for trespassing on the border of North Korea with China on Jan. 25," the agency. "He is now being questioned by local authorities."
The U.S Embassy in Seoul and the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they have yet to confirm the report.
"The embassy has neither received information about the American, nor are we in a situation to provide the personal details of the alleged detainee," an embassy official said. "Releasing personal information, such as the name of the purported trespasser, without gaining approval from the family, is a violation of privacy laws."
In late December, a Korean-American missionary named Robert Park entered the North in an attempt to shed light on the communist regime's human rights abuses.
The U.S. is hoping to contact Park through the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, Radio Free Asia reported on Jan. 20.
The U.S. government is still seeking consular access to Park, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Wednesday.
The recent illegal entries of U.S. citizens could complicate Washington's efforts to coax the Stalinist regime back to the negotiation table aimed at ending its nuclear programs, North Korea watchers said.
Two American journalists, who had been detained for illegal entry in the North, were pardoned last August when former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited the reclusive country. They were sentenced to 12 years hard labor for trespassing and "hostile acts."
Experts say Pyongyang holds some 150,000 political prisoners in six large camps across the country.