telephone. this interview was his first opportunity to let his friends and family know he s okay and also possibly send a message to the one government agencies that may be able to help secure his release. see, joo is a permanent resident of the united states. his family lives there. but he remains a south korean citizen. it s up to that country to figure out how to get this young man home. as you know it s a complex situation, north and south korea remain technically at war. they have a heavily fortified border and no diplomatic ties. but now, if south korea is unable to intervene this 21-year-old who has been living in the united states since 2001 is in the very real danger of ending up in a north koreaen prison. will ripley reporting from pyongyang, north korea. not every day we have a reporter on the scene in north korea. a lot more today on the situation room. cnn cannot verify if north korean officials told the nyu
between the north and south. what kind of great event did you think would happen? i m not completely sure yet. reporter: this is the first time he s been able to send any message to his family and friends since he was detained. south korea s government is demanding the immediate release of the college student. and that of two other detained south koreans who gave exclusive interviews to cnn. they re being held by the north koreans on espionage charges, allegations south korea calls baseless. joo remains under investigation, but he s hopeful his arrest will bring about some good. i hope that, you know i will be able to tell the world how an ordinary college student entered the dprk illegally, but however with the generous treatment of the dprk that i will be able to return home safely. reporter: joo says he is being treated humanely. he has his own room a private bathroom but no telephone. so that was his first opportunity to send a message not only to his family but perhaps m
states where he s lived since 2001 and cross illegally into north korea, a country where anybody from an enemy country who crosses potentially faces very serious trouble. i understand my parents and my loved ones are worrying a lot about me. but i would like to say that i m well. and there s no need to worry reporter: north korean state media reports won man joo entered the country illegally crossing the river on the china/north korea border. joo says he made it past two barbed wire fences following a large river until north korean soldiers arrested him. i thought that by my entrance illegally i acknowledge but i thought that some great event could happen. and hopefully that event could have a good effect in relations
cnn given exclusive access to the 21-year-old. joo says he took a semester off traveling from new jersey to clerch and then china, crossing a river on the north korean border pep he made it past two bashed wire fences following a large river until north korean soldiers detained him. i thought that by my entrance illegally i acknowledge, but i thought some great event could happen and hopefully that event could have a good effect in the relations between the north and south. reporter: so what kind of great event did you think would happen? of course i am not completely sure yet. reporter: joo moved to the united states from south korea with his family in 2001. he s a permanent u.s. resident but a korean citizen. north korea doesn t take kindly to outsiders crossing their border without permission. south korea s government is
but he doesn t have access to a phone. this interview was the first time for him to send word to his family, including a korean government. even though joo has been living since 2001 he remains a korean citizen. we reached out to the reunification ministry in seoul. they told us they re calling for his release. but things haven t changed. so this 21-year-old who thought he was doing something potentially great found himself with the danger of ending up in a north korean prison if these two enemies can t work out a deal to get him home. in our money lead today, bill clinton says he needs to keep giving speeches because he s kwot got to pay our bills. how much are the clintons and the rest of the presidential field worth. the richest and the poorest