South Korean border guards arrested a US man who they believe was attempting to swim across a river into North Korea, a South Korean defense official said yesterday.
The man was apprehended on Tuesday night while lying on a bank of the Han River, which is in a restricted military area near the border, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The man was in his late 20s or early 30s, Yonhap news agency said, and had told investigators that he tried to go to North Korea to meet leader Kim Jong-un.
South Korea’s defense ministry could not immediately confirm details of the report, but an official said a US citizen was picked up by the military late on Tuesday and was being questioned.
The US embassy in Seoul said it had been in contact with South Korean authorities about the report.
US citizens are occasionally arrested after entering North Korea illegally from China, but an American trying to get in from South Korea is unusual.
In the 1960s, several US soldiers walked into North Korea while on a patrol near the mine-strewn Demilitarized Zone. They later appeared in North Korean propaganda films and taught English.
In 1996, US citizen Evan Hunziker entered North Korea by swimming across the Yalu River that marks the Chinese border. Hunziker, who apparently made the swim on a drunken dare, was accused of spying and detained for three months.
Hunziker was freed after negotiations involving a special US envoy. The North Koreans wanted to give Hunziker a US$100,000 criminal fine, but eventually agreed on a US$5,000 payment to settle a bill for a hotel where he was detained. He killed himself about one month after his release.
Last year, South Korean soldiers shot and killed a man with a South Korean passport who officials said ignored warnings while swimming across the Imjin River toward North Korea.
Some recent US detainees include missionaries aiming to spread the gospel in North Korea or draw attention to the country’s alleged human rights abuses.
North Korea is holding three US citizens and the country’s Supreme Court on Sunday sentenced one of them, Matthew Miller, to six years hard labor for illegally entering the country to commit espionage.
North Korea says Miller tore up his tourist visa upon arrival at Pyongyang’s airport in April.
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