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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Board approves more non-lethal weapons for UCLA police after Israel-Hamas war protests
The University of California board of regents approved Thursday additional non-lethal weapons requested by UCLA police, which handled some of the nation's largest student protests against the Israel-Hamas war.
Clashes between protestors and counter-protestors earlier this year on the campus led to more than a dozen injuries, and more than 200 people were arrested at a demonstration the next day.
The equipment UCLA police requested and the board approved included pepper balls and sponge rounds, projectile launchers and new drones. The board also signed off on equipment purchase requests for the nine other police departments on UC campuses.
Student protesters at the regents meeting were cleared from the room after yelling broke out when the agenda item was presented.
Faculty and students have criticized UCLA police for their use of non-lethal weapons in campus demonstrations, during which some protesters suffered injuries.
During public comment, UCLA student association representative Tommy Contreras said the equipment was used against peaceful protestors and demonstrators.
"I am outraged that the University of California is prioritizing funding for military equipment while slashing resources for education," Contreras said. "Students, staff and faculty have been hurt by this very equipment used not for safety but to suppress voices."
California law enforcement agencies are required by state law to submit an annual report on the acquisition and use of weapons characterized as "military equipment." A UC spokesperson called it a "routine" agenda item not related to any particular incidents.
"The University's use of this equipment provides UC police officers with non-lethal alternatives to standard-issue firearms, enabling them to de-escalate situations and respond without the use of deadly force," spokesperson Stett Holbrook said.
Many of the requests are replacements for training equipment, and the drones are for assisting with search and rescue missions, according to Holbrook. The equipment is "not military surplus, nor is it military-grade or designed for military use," Holbrook said.
UCLA police are requesting 3,000 more pepper balls to add to their inventory of 1,600; 400 more sponge and foam rounds to their inventory of 200; eight more "less lethal" projectile launchers; and three new drones.
The report to the regents said there were no complaints or violations of policy found related to the use of the military equipment in 2023.
History professor Robin D.G. Kelley said he spent an evening with a student in the emergency room after the student was shot in the chest during a June 11 demonstration.
"The trauma center was so concerned about the condition of his heart that they kept him overnight to the next afternoon after running two echocardiograms," Kelley said the day after the student was injured. "The student was very traumatized."
UC's systemwide director of community safety Jody Stiger told the board the weapons were not to be used for crowd control or peaceful protests but "life-threatening circumstances" or violent protests where "campus leadership have deemed the need for law enforcement to utilize force to defend themselves or others."
Historically Black colleges see surge in applications
After the Supreme Court’s ruling banning affirmative action in college applications, competitive schools are reporting a decline in first-time minority enrollment.
But the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities are seeing a surge in applications, Liam Knox writes in Inside Higher Ed. (September 2024)
- By VOA News
Fewer men enrolling in college
In the last few years, the number of men enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities has dropped by 6%, and the proportion of male students is at an all-time low of 41%.
Lauren Hamilton of WAMU American University Radio looks at why the shift is happening, and what universities are doing about it. (August 2024)
Nine charged in police breakup of pro-Palestinian camp at US university
Authorities have filed charges against nine people who are accused of trespassing or resisting police during the May breakup of a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Michigan.
"The First Amendment does not provide a cover for illegal activity," Attorney General Dana Nessel said Thursday, a day after charges were filed in Washtenaw County.
The camp on the Diag, known for decades as a site for campus protests, was cleared by police on May 21 after a month. Video posted online showed police using what appeared to be an irritant to spray people, who were forced to retreat.
The university said the camp had become a threat to safety, with overloaded power sources and open flames.
Nessel said two people were charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor, and seven more people were charged with trespassing as well as resisting police, a felony.
Protesters have demanded that the school's endowment stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. But the university insists it has no direct investments and less than $15 million placed with funds that might include companies in Israel. That's less than 0.1% of the total endowment.
U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat who supports the protesters, said the charges were "frivolous" and a "shameful attack" on the rights of students.
Separately, Nessel said state prosecutors charged two people for alleged acts during a counterdemonstration on April 25, a few days after the camp was created.
Nessel said authorities still were investigating spring protests at the homes of elected members of the university's governing board.
- By VOA News
Colleges get ready for return of protests
After a summer lull when most students left campuses, colleges and universities are getting ready for the possible return of protests over the war in Gaza.
USA Today reports that while activists are likely to resume demonstrations, many schools have prepared by enacting harsher rules for those causing disruptions. (August 2024)
