N. Korea confirms holding American

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- North Korea Tuesday confirmed holding a Korean-American accused of illegally entering the country, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

The report, cited by China's official Xinhua news agency, said Robert Park had entered the country from China last Thursday and was now under investigation by "a relevant organ." It gave no other details either about the detainee or his where he was being held.

Park, 28, is a human rights activist from Tucson, Xinhua said.

Park's parents earlier told the San Diego Union-Tribune their son had crossed into North Korea to raise awareness of human rights abuses in the isolated Communist country.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, referring to human rights issues in the North, reported the country is believed to run concentration camps where tens of thousands of political prisoners are allegedly held.

Activists from a coalition of several groups involved in assisting North Korean defectors told Yonhap Park was carrying a letter urging North Korean leaders to close the camps and open the tightly-controlled Korean border for the shipment of food and medical goods.

Last March, former U.S. President Bill Clinton traveled to North Korea to secure the release of two U.S. journalists, who had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering the country.