N. Korea notifies U.S. of holding second U.S. citizen for illegal entry: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has informed the U.S. that it has
detained another American citizen, in addition to a U.S. activist held after
sneaking across the Chinese border on Christmas Day, for illegally entering the
North early this week, the State Department said Friday.

"We've been informed by the North Korean government that it is holding an
American citizen who allegedly entered North Korea from China on Jan. 25,"
spokesman Philip Crowley said.
Crowley also said that the U.S. has not yet identified the American, but is
seeking a consular access to him through the Swedish mission in Pyongyang.
Washington does not have diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, so the Swedish
mission handles consular affairs involving U.S. citizens in North Korea.
North Korea has not yet allowed access to Robert Park, a Christian missionary
from Tucson, Arizona, who entered the North to call attention to human rights
conditions in the reclusive communist state.
The 28-year-old Korean American reportedly said that he did not want to be freed
until North Korean leader Kim Jong-il releases all political prisoners, believed
to number in the hundreds of thousands, in several concentration camps.
In August, former U.S. President Bill Clinton met with Kim to secure the release
of two American journalists detained months earlier for illegally entering the
North via China while reporting on North Korean defectors.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

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