North Korea has formally confirmed that an American teacher is being accused of committing “hostile acts” toward the Pyongyang regime in an attempt to overthrow the government. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) says Tony Kim, a Korean-American teacher who had been recently teaching at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, was arrested at the Pyongyang International Airport on April 22nd as he attempted to depart the country.
According to CNN, the arrest report on Kim states he “was intercepted for committing criminal acts of hostility aimed to overturn the (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) not only in the past but also during his last stay before the interception.” No more details about what the so-called “hostile acts” that Kim may have committed have been released by the North Korean government, for officials only say an investigation is underway.
Kim is the third U.S. citizen to be detained in North Korea. Last year, University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for his own “hostile act” that included the theft of a political banner from a hotel he was staying at with a church group. In 2015, a businessman named Kim Dong Chul was arrested on suspicious of espionage charges. He was sentenced to ten years for his crimes.
(Via CNN)