Page 9 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Monday 24 april 2017
N. Korea detains U.S. citizen, the

3rd American being held there

ERIC TALMADGE the university was not un- have recently been trad-
Associated Press der investigation and was ing threats of war and hav-
PYONGYANG, North Korea continuing its normal op- ing another American in jail
(AP) — North Korea has erations. He said he could will likely up the ante even
detained a U.S. citizen, of- not immediately confirm further.
ficials said Sunday, bring- Kim’s hometown. Last year, Otto Warmbier,
ing to three the number of Though no details on why then a 21-year-old Univer-
Americans now being held Kim was detained have sity of Virginia student from
there. been released, the deten- suburban Cincinnati, was
Tony Kim, who also goes by tion comes at a time of sentenced to 15 years of
his Korean name Kim Sang- unusually heightened ten- hard labor in prison after he In this combination of file photos, U.S. citizens Otto Warmbier on
duk, was detained on Sat- sions between the U.S. and confessed to trying to steal March 16, 2016, left, and Kim Dong Chul on April 29, 2016; are
urday, according to Park North Korea. Both countries a propaganda banner.q escorted at court in Pyongyang, North Korea.
Chan-mo, the chancellor Associated Press
of the Pyongyang Univer-
sity of Science and Tech-
nology.
Park said Kim, who is 58,
taught accounting at
the university for about a
month. He said Kim was
detained by officials as
he was trying to leave the
country from Pyongyang’s
international airport. A uni-
versity spokesman said he
was trying to leave with his
wife on a flight to China.
The Swedish Embassy in
Pyongyang said it was
aware of a Korean-Ameri-
can citizen being detained
recently, but could not
comment further. The em-
bassy looks after consular
affairs for the United States
in North Korea because
the two countries do not
have diplomatic relations.
The State Department said
it was aware of the report
about a U.S. citizen being
detained, but declined fur-
ther comment “due to pri-
vacy considerations.”
Park said Kim had taught
at the Yanbian University of
Science and Technology
in China before coming to
Pyongyang.
He said he was informed
that the detention had
“nothing to do” with Kim’s
work at the university but
did not know further de-
tails.
As of Sunday night, North
Korea’s official media had
not reported on the deten-
tion.
The Pyongyang University
of Science and Technol-
ogy is the only privately
funded university in North
Korea. It held its first classes
in 2010. It is unique in the
North for its large number
of foreign staff.
Colin McCulloch, the direc-
tor of external affairs, said