Months of hostile rhetoric early this year pushed tension tosome of the highest levels in years with North Korea, which hasconducted nuclear tests, threatening a nuclear strike on theUnited States and South Korea.
North Korea last month detained Merrill Newman, a veteran ofthe Korean War and a retiree from the upscale NorthernCalifornia city of Palo Alto, taking him off a plane as he wasabout to leave the country where he had been visiting on atourist visa.
The reclusive Asian nation has also held Korean-AmericanChristian missionary Kenneth Bae since November 2012, sentencinghim to 15 years of hard labor. His detention followed a longseries of acrimonious exchanges between North Korea and theUnited States over Pyongyang's nuclear program.