SEOUL — A US tourist who said he was seeking shelter in North Korea has been detained there for more than two weeks and is being held on charges of a “gross violation of its legal order,” the country’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.
The news agency said the American, Miller Matthew Todd, 24, was being held for his “rash behavior” while passing through customs after his arrival in North Korea on April 10. According to the report, the American tore his tourist visa, shouting that he had entered the North “after choosing it as a shelter.”
“Our related agencies consider his behavior a serious matter and an investigation is underway,” the agency said.
If confirmed, the detention could complicate Washington’s efforts to handle North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
North Korea is still holding Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary arrested in November 2012 and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on accusations of trying to use religion to undermine the regime.