The American decided to enter North Korea illegally, where he had resided “five or six months” in 2014

In 2015, a US citizen managed to cross secretly from China to North Korea, where he was held for nine weeks, during which he was interrogated, before being returned to the neighbouring country, he has revealed this to ‘NK News’.

“This person contacted us two months ago to tell his story, which until now had not appeared in any medium“, Chad O’Carroll, director of the website and co-author of the report, told EFE in Seoul today.

The American, who is only known to be called Miles, because his last name has not been revealed, decided to enter North Korea illegally, where he had resided “five or six months” in 2014 working as a cooperative on a farm in Rajin (northeast ), after the North Korean authorities refused him a visa for an organized trip.

In the early morning of August 12, 2015, Miles, who appears around 25 years old, crossed the Yalu River (Amnok in North Korea), which divides both countries, aboard an inflatable boat and then took a photograph that hung on his Twitter profile, which shows that he actually reached the North Korean shore.

He then “delivered” in a nearby quartering and spent three weeks in the border town of Sinuiju undergoing interrogations, sometimes up to 18 hours a day, until the regime confirmed that he was not a spy and his reason for entering the country was “expressing his love” for North Korea, according to the report.

Miles, who showed emails between the State Department and his family to certify that he was being held, spent another six weeks held at a Sinuiju hotel at all times until the Chinese authorities accepted his return.

There are more cases

He is not the first American who illegally sneaks into North Korea from China, since three other compatriots did before him, and another later, in 2018, although all these cases were reported by the media at the time.

O’Carroll explained that he has evidence that in recent years there have been other cases of Americans and even a European citizen, mostly tourists, who were detained in North Korea without being informed.

Washington, in fact, prevents its citizens from travelling to North Korea after the tourist Otto Warmbier was arrested and returned more than a year later to the US in a vegetative state a few days before his death in June 2017.