North Korea confirms detention of U.S. citizen: State Department Retired finance executive Merrill Newman is seen in a photo taken in Palo Alto, California in 2005. North Korea has detained Newman, an 85-year-old Korean War veteran from California visiting the country as a tourist, pulling him off a plane as he was about to leave the reclusive nation last month, his son said. Credit: Reuters/Nicholas Wright /Palo Alto Weekly