SEOUL — A US citizen who said he had illegally entered North Korea held a news conference in Pyongyang on Sunday during which he offered a lengthy criticism of the United States’ policies and human rights conditions and said that he would seek asylum in Venezuela.
The man identified himself as Arturo Pierre Martinez, 29, from El Paso and said that he had entered North Korea by crossing the Yalu River from China.
Martinez entered North Korea in November, two days after the US director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., arrived in Pyongyang to seek release of two Americans, Matthew Todd Miller and Kenneth Bae.
Martinez said he had tried in vain to swim across the Han River into North Korea from South Korea. In September the South Korean military said it had arrested an American who was trying to swim into the North, but did not identify him. At the time, South Korean media reported that the man had told investigators that he intended to meet the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un.