North Korea has confirmed Wednesday, the arrest of the US citizen, a lecturer in Pyongyang, the third American held in the country amid growing tensions with Washington.
Kim Sang-Duk, or Tony Kim, was detained at the capital’s airport on April 22, as he tried to leave the country after teaching for several weeks at an elite university.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in the North’s first confirmation of the professor’s detention, said he had been held for “committing criminal acts of hostility aimed to overturn the DPRK”, using the country’s official name.
It also added that Mr Kim was “under detention by a relevant law enforcement body which is conducting detailed investigation into his crimes”.
The confirmation of Mr Kim’s detention comes as Pyongyang issues increasingly belligerent rhetoric in a tense standoff with the administration of President Trump.
Mr Kim had been teaching accounting at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST).
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