ICC Note:

On Friday, an American tourist was detained and North Korea’s official news agency reported that he “perpetrated activities that violated the laws of our republic, which did not fit his stated purpose of visiting our republic as a tourist.” It  reminds us of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary caught in the North Korea in late 2012, was accused of “trying to establish a secret proselytizing network inside the North” and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. North Korea uses this case to warn Christian missionaries who help North Korean refugees at the Sino-North Korea border. ICC continues to follow this case.

06/06/2014 South Korea (The New York Times) — North Korea said on Friday that it has detained an American citizen who visited the country as a tourist, and that it was investigating him on charges of violating its laws.

The man, Jeffrey Edward Fowle, entered North Korea on April 29 and “perpetrated activities that violated the laws of our republic, which did not fit his stated purpose of visiting our republic as a tourist,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. “Our related agency has detained him and is investigating him.”

The news agency gave no further details about Mr. Fowle, like where in the United States he came from.

The U.S. had already advised that no Americans should travel to the North, following the arrest last year of an 85-year-old American tourist, Merrill E. Newman of Palo Alto, Calif. Mr. Newman was released after more than a month of captivity. The North had accused him of war crimes after learning that Mr. Newman, a Korean War veteran, had helped train anti-Communist guerrillas during the war. But it cited Mr. Newman’s age, 85 at the time, as a reason for releasing him.

But North Korea is still holding at least two other American citizens.

Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after he was caught in the North in late 2012. Mr. Bae was accused of trying to establish a secret proselytizing network inside the North, using his tourism business as a front. North Korea has said that it was also holding Matthew Todd Miller, also an American, who it said tore up his visa and demanded asylum after arriving in Pyongyang on April 10.

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