A Korean-American human rights activist made a Christmas Day crossing from China into North Korea in an attempt to raise awareness of human rights abuses in the Stalinist state, fellow activists and South Korean media reported Saturday, DPA reported.
Neither North Korean nor US officials have commented on the incident yet.
According to media reports, Robert Park, 28, who leads a coalition of advocacy groups for North Korean defectors, crossed the frozen Tumen River from Jilin province, China, into Hoeryong, in north-east North Korea, early Friday evening.
Park said he would deliver a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to step down, and that he wanted to be arrested to pressure the US, South Korean and Japanese governments to pay attention to the plight of North Korean people.
The activist, who identifies himself as a Christian, reportedly called out tidings of God's love while crossing at a lightly guarded part of the border.
In March, North Korean border guards seized two Asian-American female journalists from San Francisco-based Current TV near the Tumen River.
Pyongyang prosecuted Laura Ling and Euna Lee on charges of committing "hostile acts" against the regime. In a widely publicized visit, former US president Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang in August to secure the journalists' release.
In a recent rare incident, a South Korean man defected in October to the communist North via the heavily patrolled demilitarized zone from the south.
The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice, rather than a peace treaty.