New York University student Won-moon Joo, who was arrested in North Korea on April 22 for entering the country illegally, said he deliberately went to the DPRK to be arrested in the hope of promoting peace between North Korea and South Korea.
"I wanted to be arrested. I thought that by my entrance to the DPRK, illegally I acknowledge, I thought that some great event could happen and hopefully that event could have a good effect on the relations between the north and [South Korea]," he told CNN.
He said he entered North Korea through the city of Dandong, China, in an area near the Great Wall that allows people to view a part of the DPRK. Joo was able to go through two barbed wire fences, a farmland and a river before he was spotted and arrested.
Joo is a South Korean citizen and a U.S. permanent resident. He lives in New Jersey.
His family was unaware of his plan to slip into the DPRK. "When he left home, Joo told his family that he was traveling to China... We believe he entered the North on impulse," a South Korean foreign ministry official told The Chosunilbo.
Joo stopped school for a semester to travel the U.S. He tried to look for a job in California, but after finding none, he then set off for North Korea. He had been contemplating about going there since February of this year.
He said, "Once the thought of entering the DPRK seeped into my mind, I couldn't really escape it. I guess I constantly thought about it."
"I thought that as an American permanent resident and South Korean citizen that my entrance could have some good effect," he told CNN.
However, he was unsure what effect his actions could bring about. Joo said he was willing to accept any punishment.
Although he has been detained since April 22, news of his arrest was officially announced by the Korean Central News Agency just last Saturday.
