SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean guards detained an American journalist near the country's western border with China, a newspaper report said Thursday. However, another report said two U.S. reporters were taken into custody in the far northeast while trying to shoot footage of the communist country.
The Munwha Ilbo newspaper in Seoul said North Korean soldiers detained a female reporter Tuesday in the border region along the Yalu River dividing China and North Korea. The report cited unnamed diplomatic sources in Seoul.
The paper identified her as a reporter named "Ming" working for a U.S. television station.
The South Korean network YTN later reported that two journalists, both Korean Americans, were arrested in Chinese territory near the Tumen River, some 500 miles to the northeast. The network did not cite its source.
YTN said North Korean guards ordered the women to stop shooting footage of the country from China, and then crossed into China to arrest them when they continued to film. Both were working for online media, and one was identifed as a Californian with the surname Park.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul and the South Korean Foreign Ministry said they had no information about the reported incident.
Both the Tumen and Yalu rivers are frequent crossing points for North Koreans seeking to defect to China.
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