Student Union
American from North Korean University Detained in Pyongyang
The wife of a U.S. citizen who worked at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) and was detained from leaving North Korea this weekend pleaded for his immediate release.
Kim Hak Song was arrested Saturday “on suspicion of his hostile acts against [the state],” North Korea’s state-run news agency KCNA reported Sunday.
“A relevant institution is now conducting detailed investigation into his crimes,” the report said, providing no further details.
Following Kim’s arrest, PUST released a statement that appeared to distance itself from him, saying “We understand that this detention is related to an investigation into matters that are not connected in any way with the work of PUST.”
Speaking to the VOA Korean Service on Sunday, Kim’s wife, Kim Mi Ok, said he was arrested by the North Korean authorities as he tried to board a train in Pyongyang to go to their home in Dandong, China. She said PUST told her over the phone that Kim had hopped on the train. But Kim never arrived.
“I went to greet him at the Dandong station, and I waited until the last person to get off the train, but he was nowhere to be seen,” said Kim’s wife, who is one of some 2 million ethnic Koreans born in China.
She learned the news a day after Kim’s detention during another call with PUST, where her husband has been involved in agricultural development work at the university's experimental farm since 2014, she said. Kim was working toward establishing an organic fermentation fertilizer plant, she added. PUST is the only privately funded university in North Korea,
Kim, who is an agricultural expert, wanted to help North Korea alleviate food insecurity by supplying new agricultural technology, his wife told VOA. “So I have no idea why they detained him,” she said.
An ethnic Korean born in China in 1963, Kim studied agriculture at a Chinese university, but later studied theology in Los Angeles, California, between 1995 and 2005. Kim became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2008.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement "the security of U.S. citizens is one of the department's highest priorities,” and it will work with the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which represents American interests in the North, to try to secure their freedom. VOA confirmed with Martina Åberg Somogyi of the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang that another American citizen was detained.
With Kim, North Korea is now detaining four U.S. nationals.
Tony Kim – or Kim Sang Dok – also a PUST staffer was arrested on April 22 at an airport in Pyongyang for “hostile acts” toward the regime.
Korean-American Kim Dong Chul is serving 10 years on espionage charges and Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student from Ohio, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in 2016 for removing a propaganda poster.
Analysts say North Korea often attempts to use foreign detainees to wrest outside concessions, which in the past have sometimes involved high-profile American missions sent to secure the release of detainees.
Jenny Lee contributed to this report which originated with VOA Korean Service.
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Trump administration opens antisemitism inquiries at 5 colleges, including Columbia and Berkeley
The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.
It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.
In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.
Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.
"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.
An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."
House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."
Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.
Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.
The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.
"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."
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