WASHINGTON (AP) _ An advocate for persecuted Christians calls U.S. missionary Robert Park’s incursion into North Korea on Christmas Eve a “publicity stunt” that’s likely to do more harm than good.
North Korea has said it detained and is investigating an unidentified American intruder.
The Rev. Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors USA, says Park knew he was breaking the law when he crossed a frozen river from China into North Korea carrying a Bible and proclaiming God’s love.
Open Doors has named North Korea the world’s worst persecutor of Christians.
But Moeller says Park’s incursion with a letter urging North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to step down and close the nation’s prison camps will probably provoke even harsher persecution.
Moeller adds that U.S. officials are unlikely to make great efforts to win the missionary’s release.