by STEVE HAN
Many bizarre stories came out of North Korea in recent months. Up until now, the most notable one was the story of Matthew Miller, the 24-year-old American who got arrested in April for allegedly tearing up his tourist visa at the airport in Pyongyang.
However, the latest North Korea-related news may top it all off. A young American man, whose name isn’t yet identified, was caught by South Korean authorities while trying to swim across a river border into North Korea, a government source said Wednesday.
South Korea’s Marine sentries arrested the man, a U.S. citizen of Arabic descent in his late 20s or early 30s, at around 11:55 p.m. on Tuesday as he was swimming across the Han River, which borders with North Korea, reports Yonhap News Agency.
“I was trying to go to North Korea in order to meet with supreme leader Kim Jong-un,” the man reportedly said during the interrogation.
This case marks the second time an American citizen tried to swim into North Korea. In 1996, 26-year-old Evan C. Hunziker swam across the Yalu River, which borders North Korea and China, on a drunken dare. Hunziker was eventually freed after negotiations involving a special U.S. envoy, but he killed himself about a month after his release.
Photo courtesy of Associated Press and Fox News
