http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-388524/
"North Korea has detained an 85-year-old American veteran of the Korean War for more than three weeks, according to his son and another person familiar with the situation, opening another source of friction between Washington and Pyongyang.
The man, Merrill Newman, a Palo Alto, Calif. retiree who was traveling in North Korea, was asked by authorities to show his passport and then to leave a plane that was departing the country on Oct. 26, according to his son, Jeff Newman.
He had always wanted to visit North Korea, the younger Mr. Newman said in a phone interview. There is some terrible misunderstanding and we would just like to have him come home to his family.
The detention of Mr. Newman complicates an already-fragile relationship between North Korea and the U.S., and comes as two of the U.S.s top North Korea diplomats are in the region.
Glyn Davies, the U.S.s special representative for North Korea policy, is traveling in Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo this week to discuss the possibility of restarting stalled talks to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear-weapons program.
Meantime, Robert King, the special envoy for North Korean human-rights issues, has been in Seoul and Tokyo, working to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen who has been held by North Korea for more than a year.
While it isnt clear what may have motivated Pyongyang to detain Mr. Newman, his family suspects that it may have to do with Mr. Newmans service in the U.S. military during the Korean War, which is still a sore spot for Pyongyang.
One day before he was scheduled to leave Pyongyang, Mr. Newman was summoned to discuss his military service with Korean authorities, the younger Mr. Newman said in a televised interview on CNN.
While many in America may have forgotten about the Korean War, the clock stopped inside North Korea, said Bong Youngshik, director of the Center for Foreign Policy at the Asan Institute, a think tank in Seoul.
The regime uses the Korean War of 1950-53, which the North calls the Fatherland Liberation War, to buttress the legitimacy and political aura of the Kim family, Mr. Bong said.
Hostility towards U.S. imperialism is very closely tied to the cultivation of loyalty to the regime and nationalism, he added.
Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based tour agency that has operated tours into North Korea for 20 years, said it is currently leading three group tours in Pyongyang without incident, and that it has never dealt with Mr. Newman.
Hannah Barraclough, a Briton who has traveled to North Korea more than 90 times for Koryo since 2006, said in a phone interview that she couldnt think of any U.S. Korean War veteran who has visited the country through Koryo.
Ms. Barraclough said Koryo has taken in many U.S. military veterans who have fought in other wars, though active U.S. military personnel are barred from joining tours.
On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department issued a new travel warning for North Korea, warning about reports of North Korean authorities arbitrarily detaining U.S. citizens and not allowing them to depart the country.
At a briefing with reporters in Beijing, Mr. Davies, the U.S. envoy to North Korea, said that he didnt want to directly connect the detention of another U.S. citizen to ongoing efforts to restart negotiations with the North.
But Mr. Davies said that he saw the case as an indication that North Korea seems not [to] be seeking a better relationship with the United States.
Mr. Bong of the Asan Institute said the detention of Mr. Newman could exhaust what little goodwill Pyongyang has left with the U.S. and China.
There may have been an urgent strategic interest for Pyongyang to have another U.S. citizen, in order to augment its bargaining leverage, he said.
Theres no sympathy or interest left in the U.S. and inside the Obama administration, Mr. Bong said. And China doesnt want North Korea to make things more complicated than is absolutely necessary.
Mr. Newman is in good health but has a heart condition that requires medication that ran out shortly after the scheduled departure from North Korea, his son said. The younger Mr. Newman said that medication was sent to the U.S. Embassy and from there through Swedish diplomats to North Korean officials, but he didnt know if they were passed along to his father.
Mr. Newman had gone to North Korea as part of a 10-day trip with neighbor Robert Hamrdla, according to the newsletter of the Channing House retirement community where the men both live.
The younger Mr. Newman said the State Department has been involved since the beginning of his fathers detention. He said that he hasnt received any information about why his father couldnt leave the country and hasnt spoken with him. We dont know what the issue is, he said.
North Koreas government hasnt publicly acknowledged Mr. Newmans detention.
The family received postcards that were effusive about the trip and the people he met, the younger Mr. Newman said. He has always had a deep respect for the Korean culture and deep respect for the Korean people.
After the Korean War, the elder Mr. Newman worked as a teacher and later for manufacturing and technology companies. He retired in 1984 and has since spent his time traveling and volunteering. He has two grandchildren.
Mr. Newman is the second American known to be currently held by North Korea.
Mr. Bae, a tour guide and Christian missionary, was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced by North Korea to 15 years of hard labor for unspecified hostile acts against the state.
Mr. Bae remains in detention and is thought to be the longest-held American captive inside North Korea since the Korean War.
Earlier this year, North Korea allowed a U.S. Korean War veteran into the country on a humanitarian mission to recover a fellow Navy pilots remains, though adverse conditions prevented the recovery from taking place."
I'm thinking there's way more to this than is currently reported. 3 weeks and no major news explosion?
"North Korea has detained an 85-year-old American veteran of the Korean War for more than three weeks, according to his son and another person familiar with the situation, opening another source of friction between Washington and Pyongyang.
The man, Merrill Newman, a Palo Alto, Calif. retiree who was traveling in North Korea, was asked by authorities to show his passport and then to leave a plane that was departing the country on Oct. 26, according to his son, Jeff Newman.
He had always wanted to visit North Korea, the younger Mr. Newman said in a phone interview. There is some terrible misunderstanding and we would just like to have him come home to his family.
The detention of Mr. Newman complicates an already-fragile relationship between North Korea and the U.S., and comes as two of the U.S.s top North Korea diplomats are in the region.
Glyn Davies, the U.S.s special representative for North Korea policy, is traveling in Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo this week to discuss the possibility of restarting stalled talks to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear-weapons program.
Meantime, Robert King, the special envoy for North Korean human-rights issues, has been in Seoul and Tokyo, working to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen who has been held by North Korea for more than a year.
While it isnt clear what may have motivated Pyongyang to detain Mr. Newman, his family suspects that it may have to do with Mr. Newmans service in the U.S. military during the Korean War, which is still a sore spot for Pyongyang.
One day before he was scheduled to leave Pyongyang, Mr. Newman was summoned to discuss his military service with Korean authorities, the younger Mr. Newman said in a televised interview on CNN.
While many in America may have forgotten about the Korean War, the clock stopped inside North Korea, said Bong Youngshik, director of the Center for Foreign Policy at the Asan Institute, a think tank in Seoul.
The regime uses the Korean War of 1950-53, which the North calls the Fatherland Liberation War, to buttress the legitimacy and political aura of the Kim family, Mr. Bong said.
Hostility towards U.S. imperialism is very closely tied to the cultivation of loyalty to the regime and nationalism, he added.
Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based tour agency that has operated tours into North Korea for 20 years, said it is currently leading three group tours in Pyongyang without incident, and that it has never dealt with Mr. Newman.
Hannah Barraclough, a Briton who has traveled to North Korea more than 90 times for Koryo since 2006, said in a phone interview that she couldnt think of any U.S. Korean War veteran who has visited the country through Koryo.
Ms. Barraclough said Koryo has taken in many U.S. military veterans who have fought in other wars, though active U.S. military personnel are barred from joining tours.
On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department issued a new travel warning for North Korea, warning about reports of North Korean authorities arbitrarily detaining U.S. citizens and not allowing them to depart the country.
At a briefing with reporters in Beijing, Mr. Davies, the U.S. envoy to North Korea, said that he didnt want to directly connect the detention of another U.S. citizen to ongoing efforts to restart negotiations with the North.
But Mr. Davies said that he saw the case as an indication that North Korea seems not [to] be seeking a better relationship with the United States.
Mr. Bong of the Asan Institute said the detention of Mr. Newman could exhaust what little goodwill Pyongyang has left with the U.S. and China.
There may have been an urgent strategic interest for Pyongyang to have another U.S. citizen, in order to augment its bargaining leverage, he said.
Theres no sympathy or interest left in the U.S. and inside the Obama administration, Mr. Bong said. And China doesnt want North Korea to make things more complicated than is absolutely necessary.
Mr. Newman is in good health but has a heart condition that requires medication that ran out shortly after the scheduled departure from North Korea, his son said. The younger Mr. Newman said that medication was sent to the U.S. Embassy and from there through Swedish diplomats to North Korean officials, but he didnt know if they were passed along to his father.
Mr. Newman had gone to North Korea as part of a 10-day trip with neighbor Robert Hamrdla, according to the newsletter of the Channing House retirement community where the men both live.
The younger Mr. Newman said the State Department has been involved since the beginning of his fathers detention. He said that he hasnt received any information about why his father couldnt leave the country and hasnt spoken with him. We dont know what the issue is, he said.
North Koreas government hasnt publicly acknowledged Mr. Newmans detention.
The family received postcards that were effusive about the trip and the people he met, the younger Mr. Newman said. He has always had a deep respect for the Korean culture and deep respect for the Korean people.
After the Korean War, the elder Mr. Newman worked as a teacher and later for manufacturing and technology companies. He retired in 1984 and has since spent his time traveling and volunteering. He has two grandchildren.
Mr. Newman is the second American known to be currently held by North Korea.
Mr. Bae, a tour guide and Christian missionary, was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced by North Korea to 15 years of hard labor for unspecified hostile acts against the state.
Mr. Bae remains in detention and is thought to be the longest-held American captive inside North Korea since the Korean War.
Earlier this year, North Korea allowed a U.S. Korean War veteran into the country on a humanitarian mission to recover a fellow Navy pilots remains, though adverse conditions prevented the recovery from taking place."
I'm thinking there's way more to this than is currently reported. 3 weeks and no major news explosion?
