remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i m gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. new this morning, a u.s. citizen detained in north korea, tony kim had been teaching at pyongyang university of science and technology, taken into custody getting ready to leave the country. kim is the third american being held by north korea. and all of this is happening as president trump hold phone calls overnight with the president of china, and japan s prime minister, shindo abe, amid the escalating tension between the united states and north korea. north korea threatening to sink the u.s. aircraft carrier.
happened at the pyongyang airport and now an american citizen is in custody. this airport is one of the only ways in and out of north korea, just a handful of flights pass through on any given week. it was here that north korean authorities detained a man over the weekend as he was trying to board a flight out of the country. the man had just finished teaching at the pyongyang university of science and technology, a private institution where foreign professors, including americans, teach north korean students. the university says we understand this detention is related to an investigation into matters not connected in any way with the work of the university. details of that investigation or any charges against kim remain a mystery. so far north korea has stayed silent. complicating matters, washington does not have diplomatic relations with pyongyang. all communications go through the swedish embassy, which
has detained a u.s. citizen. you re looking at a picture of him right there. tony kim had been teaching at pyongyang university of science and technology. he was taken into custody as he was getting ready to leave the country. he s now the third american being held by north korea. the timing this time very important. want to bring in cnn senior international correspondent ivan watson live from seoul in south korea. did the regime give any reason for why they re detaining this man? reporter: no. so far, we haven t heard any confirmation from the government in pyongyang. most of the information is coming from the swedish embassy there because the u.s. and north korea don t have diplomatic relations, they don t have embassies in each other s countries, and the swedes are helping with u.s. interests there. so, this was a university professor, tony kim. he had been teaching for weeks at pyongyang university of science and technology. he was headed out of the country from the airport when
ivan watson is in seoul for us. before we get to the escalating tension, what more do we know, if anything, about why this additional american was not allowed to board his flight out of pi i don t thiyongyang? reporter: we don t have any charges yet that have been leveled against him. most of the information coming from the swedish embassy in pyongyang because it represents u.s. interests in north korea since there are not direct relations between pyongyang and washington. we do know that he was trying to fly out of the country, after teaching for weeks at this pyongyang university, and if the past track record for americans who have been detained by the north koreans is any indicator, he s in a very serious situation, probably about a half dozen americans over the last five years grabbed by the north koreans usually at the airport when they re on their way out and most of them it has taken weeks, if not months before they are released. two other americans are currently in custody ri
aircraft carrier in a single strike. president trump talking to leaders of china and japan last night. paula hancocks joins us from seoul, south korea. let s start with the u.s. citizen detained. what are we learning? reporter: well, dave, we know his name is tony kim. we know that he was a professor, we believe, teaching at the pyongyang university of science and technology. we had a statement from that school. they said he was detained as he was trying to get on a plane to leave pyongyang. they don t believe his teaching had any part of why he was detained. they don t, however, give us any indication as to why he was taken, what the allegations against him, what s he accused of. we don t know because the north korean regime up to this point has not officially said anything. the state department is looking into this closely, working with the swedish embassy. washington doesn t have diplomatic ties with pyongyang so they have to work with sweden to get any information and any access