N Korea confirms capture

North Korea has confirmed that it has detained an American man who illegally entered the country last week, following reports that a 28-year-old missionary from Arizona crossed into the communist country to draw attention to its human rights record.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch that the American was detained and under investigation after illegally entering through the North Korea-China border.

It did not identify the American man.

However, the report comes as South Korean activists say 28-year-old American missionary Robert Park slipped across the frozen Tumen River into North Korea from China to ask its leader to step down.