SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea has detained a U.S. citizen, officials said Sunday, bringing the number of Americans now being held there to three.
Tony Kim, who also goes by his Korean name Kim Sang-duk, was detained on Saturday, according to Park Chan-mo, the chancellor of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.
Park said Kim had taught accounting at the university for about a month and had taught at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in China before going to Pyongyang, the capital. He said Kim had been detained by officials at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang as he was trying to leave North Korea.
Park said he was informed that the detention had "nothing to do" with Kim's work at the university but did not know further details.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, citing unnamed sources, earlier said that a Korean-American man identified only by his last name, Kim, had been arrested at the airport.
It said the man, who is in his late 50s and is a former professor at Yanbian University, has been involved in aid and relief programs to North Korea.
The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang said it was aware that the North had recently detained a Korean-American citizen. The United States does not have formal diplomatic ties with North Korea, and the embassy looks after consular affairs in the North on behalf of Washington.
The South Korean government, including its Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service, said it could not confirm the report. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of the report, but it declined further comment "due to privacy considerations."
The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology 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.
North Korea has a history of detaining foreigners in order to use them as diplomatic leverage. At least two other Americans are known to be held in the country.
Last year, North Korea sentenced a U.S. college student, Otto Warmbier, to 15 years' hard labor after accusing him of trying to steal a political banner from his hotel in Pyongyang. It later sentenced another American, Kim Dong Chul, to 10 years' hard labor on charges of espionage.
In 2014, a U.S. citizen, Jeffrey Fowle, was arrested and accused of leaving a Bible in a hotel. He was released later that year.
Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary sentenced to 15 years' hard labor after he was charged with trying to establish a secret proselytizing network, was freed in 2014 after the U.S. government sent the director of national intelligence at the time, James Clapper Jr., to North Korea.
North Korea's relations with the U.S. have grown more tense recently. The U.S. is concerned that North Korea may fire more ballistic missiles or conduct another nuclear test around the 85th anniversary of the foundation of the North Korean army on Tuesday. The reclusive state has enhanced its nuclear and missile programs under leader Kim Jong Un, carrying out two nuclear tests and launching some 20 ballistic missiles last year.
The Asian nation said Sunday it was ready to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier to demonstrate its military might.
"Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike," Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary.
The White House will hold a briefing for senators with its "four principals" on North Korea as the administration considers its options.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will attend the meeting planned for Wednesday, the White House said Sunday in an advance schedule.
The announcement came as two Japanese navy ships joined a U.S. carrier group for exercises in the western Pacific.
The Japanese destroyers joined the USS Carl Vinson and two other U.S. warships in the Philippine Sea as the U.S. group continued its journey north in the western Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Navy said in a statement.
The Navy called the exercise "routine" and said it is designed to improve combined maritime response and defense capabilities, as well as joint maneuvering proficiency.
Information for this article was contributed by Choe Sang-hun of The New York Times; by Eric Talmadge and staff members of The Associated Press; by Ros Krasny of Bloomberg News; and by staff members of the German Press Agency.
A Section on 04/24/2017