US citizen detained in N. Korea

By Park Si-soo

A U.S. citizen has been detained in North Korea, CNN reported Sunday citing Martina Aberg, deputy head of mission for the Swedish Embassy in North Korea.

"We have been informed and can confirm that there has been a detention of a U.S. citizen Saturday morning local," she said. "He was prevented from getting on the flight out of Pyongyang. We don't comment further than this."

Sweden represents the United States' interests in North Korea.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, a former Korean-American professor was arrested on Friday at Pyongyang International Airport on his way out of the isolated country.

The U.S. citizen was identified only by his surname Kim and a former professor at the Yanbian University of Science and Technology in his late 50s. He reportedly was in the North for about a month to discuss relief activities. The reason for his arrest was not clear.

Ahn Chan-il, director of the World North Korea Research Center in Seoul, said that the North “seems to be intending to use Kim as leverage in negotiations” amid rising tensions surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

Since 2009, over 10 American citizens have been detained in North Korea on charges of anti-state and other unspecified crimes.