A former Korean-American professor reportedly has been arrested in North Korea, raising to three the number of U.S. citizens now detained by Kim Jong Un's regime.
The Yonhap news agency in South Korea reported that the U.S. citizen, identified by his surname Kim, was arrested Friday at Pyongyang International Airport as he was attempting to leave the country.
The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang said it was aware of a Korean-American citizen being detained recently, but declined to provide details to the Associated Press. The U.S. does not have an embassy in North Korea, so Sweden handles basic diplomatic issues for the U.S. Swedish officials did not immediate respond to a request for information from USA TODAY.
Yonhap described Kim as a former professor at the Yanbian University of Science and Technology in Yanji, Jilin, China. Yonhap said Kim, in his late 50s, had been involved in aid programs in North Korea and had most recently been there for about a month. The reason for his arrest was not immediately available.
The U.S. State Department, contacted Sunday, had no immediate comment on the arrest.
Ahn Chan-il, director of the World North Korea Research Center in Seoul, told Yonhap that Pyongyang "seems to be intending to use professor Kim as leverage in negotiations."
Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have risen in recent months, with Pyongyang continuing to conduct nuclear and ballistic missile testing in defiance of international bans. North Korea's leader has been equally outraged by massive joint military exercises being conducted by the U.S. and South Korea.
Other Americans being held in North Korea include Ohio native Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who was arrested in January 2016 while he was on a tour of North Korea, and Kim Dong Chul, who was arrested in October 2015 while in North Korea on business.
Warmbier was accused of committing a "hostile act" for allegedly trying to steal a political banner and was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years hard labor. Kim was accused of stealing military secrets and is serving a 10-year sentence.
