Defiant North Korea detains another American for acts against the state

Three days after North Korea detained a Korean-American citizen, Kim Sang Dok, 58, the pariah nation has detained another for acts against the state.

Kim Hak Song, who was detained on Saturday, worked for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, the North’s KCNA news agency said.

“A relevant institution of the DPRK detained American citizen Kim Hak Song on May 6 under a law of the DPRK on suspension of his hostile acts against it,” KCNA said. DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

Song is the fourth U.S. citizen to be held by the isolated country amid diplomatic tensions which is running high and driven by harsh rhetoric from Pyongyang and Washington over the North’s pursuit of nuclear weapons in response to what it says is a threat of U.S.-instigated war.

A third U.S. citizen, Kim Sang Dok, who was associated with the same school, was detained in late April for hostile acts, according to the North’s official media.