In brief: N. Korea confirms American arrested

Seoul, South Korea – North Korea confirmed today that it has arrested an American man for committing an unspecified crime against the country and is preparing to indict him.

The man, named Jun Young Su, has been held since November last year, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. He is the latest U.S. citizen to be detained in the reclusive communist state in recent years.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department called for North Korea to release one of its citizens, but it gave no further details.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported today that a Korean-American with business interests in North Korea was being detained for alleged Christian proselytizing. Yonhap, citing the Korean Christian community in the United States, said the man is in his 60s, attends a Korean church in Orange County, California, and has a North Korean visa.

Several Americans have been detained in North Korea in recent years and freeing them often requires high-profile negotiations.

Police say three admitted bombing

Minsk, Belarus – Three suspects have confessed to being involved in the Minsk subway bombing, police said Wednesday, and Belarusian authorities rounded up dissidents across the country after the president declared that they might know who “ordered the attack.”

The head of the KGB, Belarus’ security service, said a man in his mid-20s was arrested and confessed to carrying out the bombing that killed 12 people and wounded over 200 Monday at the main subway station in Minsk, the capital.

KGB chief Vadim Zaitsev did not identify the man and refused to discuss his motives but said he was “not only unhealthy in his psychological state but unhealthy in his ambitions.”

Two other suspects also confessed to being involved in the subway attack, Zaitsev and police officials said.