Originally published on November 21, 2013 <br /><br />An 85-year-old U.S. man has been detained in North Korea for more than three weeks, according to press reports.<br /><br />Korean War veteran Merrill Newman and travel companion Bob Hamrdla reportedly entered North Korea with a Beijing-based tour operator. The two were on a plane preparing to leave the communist state on October 26 when authorities came on board and detained him.<br /><br />According to Reuters: "Japan's Kyodo News Service, citing an unnamed diplomatic source in a report from Beijing, said the man entered North Korea for sightseeing last month with a valid visa and may have been detained. The report did not identify him.<br /><br />The report continues:<br /><br />But neighbors of 85-year-old Newman in the Northern California city of Palo Alto told Reuters on Wednesday they were concerned about his fate after he travelled to North Korea but failed to return.<br /><br />The detention could become another diplomatic bargaining chip for North Korea, which has held Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary, since November 2012, Kyodo said. Bae has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.<br /><br />The U.S. State Department echoed U.S. embassy officials in Beijing and Seoul who said they were aware of the reports but could not confirm them.<br /><br />A recent newsletter from Channing House, the retirement home where Newman lives, said he was embarking on a trip to North Korea along with another resident, Bob Hamrdla, and that the two would be accompanied at all times by Korean-speaking guides.<br /><br />"There has to be a terrible misunderstanding. I hope that the North Koreans will see this as a humanitarian matter and allow him to return to his family as soon as possible," Hamrdla said in a brief statement released by Channing House on Wednesday that provided no further details.<br /><br />A fellow resident of Channing House told Reuters that Hamrdla returned from the trip without Newman, whom he described as an adventurous traveler who had cruised much of the Pacific.<br /><br />------------
