North Korea detains another US citizen

The arrest of Kim Hak Song means four US citizens are currently being held in the North


Afp May 07, 2017
The North Korean flag is seen past a barbed-wire fenced wall of the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur. PHOTO: AFP

SEOUL: North Korea announced Sunday it had detained a US citizen for "hostile acts" -- its second arrest in a fortnight of an American as tensions rise between Pyongyang and Washington.

Kim Hak Song was detained on Saturday, the state news agency KCNA reported. "A relevant institution is now conducting detailed investigation into his crimes," it added.

It said Kim had worked for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), as had the US citizen detained last month.

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The two-paragraph report gave no further details of the arrest of Kim Hak Song.

Last Wednesday the North confirmed the arrest on April 22 of Kim Sang-Duk, or Tony Kim, for trying to "overturn" the regime.

The arrest of Kim Hak Song means four US citizens are currently being held in the North.

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Pyongyang is engaged in a tense standoff with the administration of new US President Donald Trump over its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology  -- founded by evangelical Christians from overseas and opened in 2010 -- is known to have a number of American faculty members. Pupils are generally children from the North's elite.

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