The DPRK detained a US citizen on Friday, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported, bringing the total number of Americans held by the country to three.
The man, a Korean-American in his fifties identified only by his surname Kim, was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport on his way out of the country, Yonhap said on Sunday.
Kim is a former professor at the Yanbian University of Science and Technology, a university in neighboring China that has a sister university in Pyongyang, China's first Chinese-foreign joint university.
Kim had been in the DPRK for a month to discuss aid and relief activities, reported Yonhap, adding that the reason for the arrest was not clear.
An official at South Korea's National Intelligence Service said it was not aware of the reported arrest.
Two other US citizens are also currently detained in the DPRK.
Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old student, was detained in January last year and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor by a DPRK court for attempting to steal a propaganda banner.
Otto Warmbier was taken to DPRK's top court in Pyongyang on March 16, 2016. /VCG Photo
In March 2016, Korean-American Kim Dong Chul, 62, was sentenced to 10 years hard labor for subversion.
Kim Dong Chul entered a courtroom in Pyongyang on April 29, 2016. /VCG Photo
According to Yonhap, over 10 US citizens have been detained in the DPRK since 2009.
(Source: Reuters)
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