American citizen being held in North Korea, U.S. says

alp227

Poor man - to be imprisoned in a place as North Korea could not be a good idea - in the best of times to be in prison in North Korea is a bad Idea - but the last couple of years I suspect be in prison in that Country is worse than ever before... Specially now in the winter where even loyal party members is freezing ...

And if mr Bae was in NK in a legitimate fashion then I wonder why he was arrested in the first place. But then again, it is North Korea we are speaking of, and they tend to deiced for them self, on their own will who could be arrested and not..

Diclotican

Why do Americans travel to some nations?

I can see that; but the ones recently held, were all tourists and in this case a tour operator.

spies, missionaries and others may have reasons for hiding the true intent of their visit.

stationed in South Korea on the DMZ. You cannot go into North Korea without special permission and the United States does not have formal relations with North Korea because technically, we are still at war. We only have a truce with them. And they do not let Americans carry on religious missionary work in North Korea. They consider contact with North Korean citizens espionage. So I doubt he was there on missionary work or he would have been arrested. They only give guided tours and tourists, especially South Koreans and Americans are closely monitored. In fact, American citizens are rarely given permission to travel to North Korea. And if he took a photograph, the North Korean security forces would take that as espionage, especially if you were an American or South Korean.

"So I doubt he was there on missionary work or he would have been arrested."

Proselytizing is forbidden, so if someone wants to spread the gospel in North Korea, they would have to declare another reason why they are entering. Its the same in China, though the consequences of being caught are less severe in the PRC.