By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
A North Korean defector working for the Seoul based Free North Korea Radio (FNKR) as a correspondent was abducted by the North's security agents on Feb. 19 near the border between China and North Korea.
Kim Seung-min, director of the FNKR, told The Korea Times that he knew something was wrong when the 50-year-old correspondent stationed in Dandong, China, and identified as a Lee, didn't answer his phone.
Lee, who came to Seoul in December 2008, had worked with the radio station since last August.
The radio broadcasts from the capital three hours a day to inform North Korean residents of what's going on inside and outside the hermetic kingdom.
All reporters use fake names for a safety reason.
It is illegal for North Koreans to listen or watch anything other than the state-run media.
Kim was informed last week by a secret correspondent based in the North that Lee was nabbed by security agents near the Yalu River in February and detained by the authorities.
Kim said Lee was scheduled to meet with his wife and son, who live in the North, near the border area at that time and was caught by the agents who were waiting for him.
``He was trapped. North Korean security was aware of his scheduled reunion with his family,'' Kim said.
``I was told that North Korea is going to announce shortly that they detained Lee with the false allegation that he illegally crossed the border to spy on the communist nation.''
In February, Kim reported Lee was missing to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and updated his whereabouts last week.
The ministry is now checking if Lee is one of the four South Koreans that North Korea claimed it had detained earlier.
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