North Korea Detains Third American: Reports

A third American has been detained in North Korea, according to multiple reports. Tony Kim, who also goes by his Korean name, Kim Sang-duk, was reportedly trying to leave the country on Saturday when he was detained at the international airport in Pyongyang.

The New York Times quotes the Associated Press attributing the news to the Swedish Embassy. Since the United States does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea, the Swedes look after United States affairs there.

CBS News and others say that Park Chan-mo, the chancellor of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, disclosed that Kim had been teaching accounting at the school for the past month.

It's not clear where in the United States Kim is from.

According to the Times, Kim is in his late 50s and had been a professor at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in China and had been involved in aid and relief programs in North Korea.

Kim would be the third American to be held in North Korea.

Last year, the country sentenced a Ohio man, Otto Warmbler, who attends the University of Virginia, to 15 years of hard labor after he allegedly stole a propaganda banner.

Kim Dong Chul, an American born in South Korea, is serving 10 years for espionage.

The news comes as tensions have been rising in North Korea.

The United States has an armada headed in that direction, and China has been said to be putting its military on alert.

Last week, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richards, someone who has been to North Korea eight times where he has negotiated the release of prisoners, told Patch the Trump administration needs to find a way to use the prisoners as a starting point for negotiations.

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