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 A uniformed North Korean officer boarded the plane on Oct. 26 and
asked Merrill Newman, a tourist from Palo Alto, California, for his
passport before telling a stewardess that Newman had to leave the
plane, the son, Jeffrey Newman, said Wednesday.
"My dad got off, walked out with the stewardess, and that's the last
he was seen," Jeffrey Newman told The Associated Press at his home
in Pasadena, California.
It wasn't clear what led to the detention. The son said he was
speaking regularly with the U.S. State Department about his father,
but U.S. officials wouldn't confirm the detention to reporters,
citing privacy issues. North Korea's official state-run media have
yet to comment on reports of the detention, which first appeared in
the San Jose Mercury News and Japan's Kyodo News service.
The son said that, according to his father's traveling companion,
Newman earlier had a "difficult" discussion with North Korean
officials about his experiences during the 1950-53 war between
U.S.-led United Nations forces and North Korea and ally China. That
war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean
Peninsula still technically at war. The war is still an important
part of North Korean propaganda, which regularly accuses Washington
and Seoul of trying to bring down its political system — statements
analysts believe are aimed in part at shoring up domestic support
for young leader Kim Jong Un.
The detention comes about a year after North Korea detained another
American and as the U.S. State Department warns in a formal notice
that Americans should avoid travel to the country, in part because
of the risk of arbitrary arrest and detention.
North Korea has detained at least six Americans since 2009, often
for alleged missionary work, but it is unusual for a tourist to be
arrested. The North's secretive, authoritarian government is
sensitive about foreign travelers, and tourists are closely
monitored. Analysts say it has used detained Americans as diplomatic
pawns in a long-running standoff with the United States over the
North's nuclear bomb production, something it denies.
Speaking Thursday to reporters in Beijing, U.S. Special
Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies wouldn't confirm
Newman's detention but said, generally, that Washington was working
with the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which acts as America's
protecting power because Washington and Pyongyang don't have
official diplomatic relations, "to try to move this issue along and
of course calling on North Korea ... to resolve the issue and to
allow our citizens to go free." Merrill Newman was traveling with
his friend, Bob Hamrdla, who was allowed to return. Hamrdla said in
a statement that "there has to be a terrible misunderstanding" and
asked for Newman to be quickly returned to his family.
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Jeffrey Newman said his father always wanted to visit North Korea
and took lessons in the language before leaving on the nine-day
trip. Newman said he believed the inspiration came from the three
years his father spent as an infantry officer in the Korean War, but
said his father never talked about his service.
Jeffrey Newman said the Swedish ambassador had delivered his
father's heart medication to the North Korean Foreign Affairs
Ministry, but it was unclear whether he had received it.
Despite some recent nuclear diplomacy, tensions remain on the Korean
Peninsula after a spring that saw threats from North Korea of
nuclear strikes against Washington and Seoul. International
disarmament talks are currently deadlocked, with North Korea
demanding status as an atomic power and Washington refusing to
resume the talks until the North makes progress on past disarmament
commitments. The North is estimated to have a handful of crude
nuclear devices and has conducted three underground atomic tests.
Davies, the U.S. envoy, told reporters that the holding of American
citizens by North Korea is a further indication of its lack of
sincerity on restarting a dialogue on nuclear issues.
Washington also has expressed worry about the health of American
Kenneth Bae, a missionary and tour operator who was sentenced to 15
years of hard labor after being arrested in North Korea last
November for alleged hostile acts.
Jeffrey Newman said he believed North Korea would eventually release
his father after realizing that all they have is an "elderly
traveler, a grandfather with a heart condition."
"We don't know what this misunderstanding is all about," he said.
"All we want as a family is to have my father, my kids' grandfather,
returned to California so he can be with his family for
Thanksgiving."
Americans celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday next week.
[Associated
Press; FOSTER KLUG and
ROBERT JABLON]
Jablon reported from
Pasadena, California. Associated Press reporters Channing Joseph in
San Francisco and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this
story.
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