State Department: 'Strong Possibility' North Korea Is Holding 2 Americans
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The State Department said Thursday there is a "strong possibility" North Korea has arrested a second American for allegedly crossing into the country illegally -- less than a month after the country arrested another American on similar charges.
U.S. officials are trying to work through the Swedish government, the intermediary between the two nations, to confirm reports that the American is being held.
"There is a strong possibility a second American is being detained," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Another senior U.S. official told Fox News that U.S. officials are receiving "some feedback" that the reports are true.
The initial report came out of North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, which said a man was detained Monday and is under investigation. It did not identify him by name or provide other details.
North Korea also said late last month that it was holding another U.S. citizen for illegally entering through the North Korea-China border.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It did not identify the man, but he is widely believed to be Robert Park, an American missionary who South Korean activists say crossed over a frozen river into North Korea several days earlier to raise the issue of human rights.
U.S. officials are still seeking consular access to that citizen, Crowley told reporters Wednesday. The U.S. hopes to gain access to him through the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang since Washington does not have diplomatic ties with North Korea. The two countries are technically in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
A South Korean activist who has been the source of most information about the missionary said Thursday that he has no knowledge of the second American detainee.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jo Sung-rae of the Seoul-based group Pax Koreana said he and fellow activists sent about 150,000 leaflets by balloon across the border into North Korea on Wednesday as part of efforts to let North Koreans know about Park.
Park's detainment came four months after two American journalists arrested at the border were freed and their 12-year sentences for illegal entry and "hostile acts" were commuted after former President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang and met North Korean leader Kim.
Fox News' Justin Fishel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.