University employee becomes fourth American citizen currently detained in North Korea

iStock/Thinkstock(SEOUL) — As tensions flare between the United States and North Korea, the number of American citizens detained by the authoritarian government has also risen.

On Sunday, Kim Hak Song became the fourth American citizen currently jailed by the repressive regime, on charges such as espionage and “crimes against the state.”

Kim Hak Song is now the tenth American to be detained by North Korea’s current leader, Kim Jong-un. In terms of detentions, North Korea is second only to Iran, where five Americans are currently missing or detained.

And although President Trump tweeted during the campaign that similar detentions would not happen during his presidency, Kim Hak Song is the second American to be detained in North Korea during his time in office.

Well, Iran has done it again. Taken two of our people and asking for a fortune for their release. This doesn’t happen if I’m president!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2016

Yet other than their detention, there is very little that the four men have in common. Here are the American citizens detained in North Korea.

KIM DONG CHUL

The longest held American at this time is Kim Dong Chul. A naturalized American citizen who was born in South Korea, Kim Dong Chul is a businessman in his mid-60s who at one time lived in Fairfax, Virginia.

He was living in China near the border with North Korea and working in a special economic zone in the largely isolated country as president of a trade and hospitality company. After years of crossing the border openly, he was detained in October 2015, accused of being a spy for South Korea, and sentenced to 10 years of hard labor.

He left behind a wife and two daughters in China. His detention wasn’t publicly known until January 2016, when a CNN crew was allowed to interview him.

OTTO WARMBIER

Around the same time that Kim Dong Chul’s detention was revealed, Otto Warmbier was also arrested by North Korean authorities.

Warmbier is a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate student and a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He was visiting the country on one of a handful of a guided tours organized by private companies where foreign tourists are chaperoned by North Korean minders and shown the country’s good side.

On January 2, 2016, as he was departing through Pyongyang’s airport, he was detained. He was accused of stealing a propaganda poster, and North Korean officials even released a video that purported to show him stealing it. He was then sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for “crimes against the state.”

Like Kim Dong Chul, Wambier tearfully begged for mercy and read a “confession,” although it is unclear if it was done under duress.

TONY KIM

Tony Kim, who also goes by his Korean name Kim Sang-duk, is a 58-year-old American citizen who was temporarily teaching an accounting course at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.

Kim Sang-duk was also detained at the airport while trying to fly to China with his wife on April 22. It is unclear what prompted his detention, but he has been charged with “hostile criminal acts with an aim to subvert the country.”

KIM HAK SONG

Just a day after his detention was revealed, little is known about Kim Hak Song.

The regime’s official news agency said Sunday that he was being held for “hostile acts against the country,” although more detail about the alleged acts was not provided by North Korean authorities.

Kim Hak Song had also been working at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in agricultural development with the university’s “experimental farm,” the university said in a statement. He was arrested Saturday as he was “about to leave…after a visit of several weeks,” it added.

Like Tony Kim, the university said Kim Hak Song was not detained because of his university work, but for other reasons.

Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

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