By Kim Hyo-jin
A South Korean student attending New York University has been detained in North Korea on a charge of illegally entering the repressive state, the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Saturday.
The North's official news agency said the South Korean, identified as Joo Won-moon, 21, was arrested on April 22 after crossing the Yalu River from Dandong, China.
Joo is said to live in New Jersey and has permanent U.S. resident status. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the detainee was born in South Korea.
The KCNA said Joo admitted that his entry was a serious violation of North Korean law. But it remained unclear why he entered the country.
New York University spokesman John Beckman confirmed that Joo was a junior at the Stern School of Business, the New York Times reported.
“He is not taking classes this semester, and the university was unaware of his travels,” Beckman said in an email response to an inquiry from the New York Times. He said the university had been in touch with the U.S. State Department and the South Korean government.
Joo’s arrest brought the number of South Korean detainees in the North to four.
In March, two South Korean citizens, identified as Kim Kuk-gi and Choi Chun-gil, were detained on allegations of espionage, according to the KCNA.
The North's State Security Ministry accused them of harming its leadership by providing military and nuclear secrets to Seoul's National Intelligence Agency through a spy network in Dandong.
Despite the unification ministry’s call for the pair to be released immediately, Pyongyang has kept them in custody.
Kim Jeong-wook, a missionary who was also charged with espionage, has been held in North Korea since October 2013. Pyongyang sentenced Kim to life in prison with hard labor.