Kim Dong Chul, believed to be in his 60s and formerly of Fairfax, Virginia, said he spied on behalf of “South Korean conservative elements” and was arrested in October.
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On the diplomatic front, South Korea said its chief nuclear negotiator planned to meet his USA and Japanese counterparts on Wednesday to discuss a response to North Korea, and the next day, he would meet China’s nuclear envoy in Beijing.
However, it’s unclear how much of what Lim said was under duress as CNN said the network presumed North Korean officials were listening into the interview. CNN said that the man’s fate is unknown.
North Korean officials began monitoring Kim’s activities in 2009, CNN reported.
Kim still has a wife and child in China, and has been unable to contact them during his imprisonment.
Neither Pyongyang or Washington have released any recent reports of any detained Americans in North Korea.
South Korea started blasting a mix of K-pop and propaganda messages into North Korea on Friday, using giant banks of speakers located close to the heavily militarised border.
North Korean propagandists used rudimentary editing techniques to crop and flip old video footage of a more successful ejection test from May and a Scud missile launch from June a year ago, the video analysis showed.
In the interview, Canadian Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim (60) stated that he has been spending his time digging holes; eight hours a day at a hard-labor camp on the North Korean coast. “I think the main way to do that is with a peace treaty”. But they said the trips did not have a political objective.
“I wasn’t originally a laborer, so the labor was hard at first”, Lim said. “I hope the Canadian government can take advantage of this opportunity and this window and see if they can find a way to get him back”. He also said he has requested a Bible from North Korean authorities, but has yet to obtain it.
“I hope I can go home some day”, he told CNN. I miss my family. “I am longing to see them again, and my congregation”, he said.
Ms Ma, who is working as a missionary based in the NY area under what she said was security protection, described Mr Kim as a Korean-American.
The bombastic claim was made in a commentary released by state-run media on Tuesday, six days after what North Korea claims was a successful test detonation of a hydrogen bomb. The White House and Western nuclear weapons experts are skeptical of the claim, but US officials have said that any nuclear test by Pyongyang is a violation of the country’s global obligations.
The announcement was met with doubt North Korea had set off a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major technological advance for Pyongyang’s limited nuclear arsenal. The placard reads “Anti-North Korea loudspeaker?”
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Asked whether he worked for the U.S.at any time, Kim said categorically that he did not.
