A U.S. citizen has been detained by South Korean authorities after they found him trying to swim across the river border into North Korea late Tuesday -- reportedly to meet leader Kim Jong-Un, according to a South Korean Defense Ministry official and a senior U.S. State Department official. The American was being interrogated Wednesday.
Border patrol troops were on a regular patrol mission west of Seoul when they caught the unidentified man, believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s, by the Han River in an area where it divides North and South Korea, a government source told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
Shortly before midnight, the man had been laying exhausted on the southern bank when he was spotted, a government source, cited by Yonhap, said, adding that he told investigators he wanted to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
"A male American citizen was arrested last night while attempting to swim across the river to North Korea," a ministry spokesman told Agence France-Presse, adding that he had been handed over to the relevant authorities.
Nobody at the U.S. embassy was immediately available for comment.
Although Americans are allowed to travel to North Korea by plane, it's forbidden to cross from South Korea into North Korea, CNN reported.
Meanwhile, attempts to cross the river in the heavily-guarded demilitarized zone are very rare and dangerous.
In September, a South Korean man was shot dead by border guards while trying to swim to the North.
"In 1996, 26-year-old U.S. citizen Evan C Hunziker crossed the Yalu River into the North from China on an apparent drunken dare," according to BBC News. "He was held for three months by North Korea on charges of espionage and eventually released after negotiations with the U.S."
Currently, North Korea has three American citizens in detention -- Kenneth Bae, Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle.
A North Korean court on Sunday sentenced Miller to six years hard labor for committing "acts hostile" to North Korea, four months after he was arrested for allegedly ripping up his tourist visa at immigration.
Bae, a Korean-American described by Pyongyang as a militant evangelist, was sentenced last year to 15 years of hard labor for seeking to topple the North's regime.
Fowle, who entered the North in April as a tourist, is expected to be tried soon, following his arrest for reportedly leaving a Bible at a hotel, according to AFP.
