to smooth out the new law. >> north korea today said its holding another american. the country's official news agency said he was detained for committing an unspecified crime. john terrett has more with this story. what do we know about the person being held here. >> reporter: they have another american in custody. according to the korean center news agency this man is paul jeffrey edward ball, and he has been detained for reasons acting against the spirit of tourism. he went to the country on april 29th we are told. marie hart, the spokesperson for state department, has been promising within the last couple of hours saying that they're well aware of the case, but they can't say too much at the moment because they don't have written permission from his family. >> we are aware that an u.s. citizen has been detained in north korea. this is the third u.s. season detained in north korea. obviously no greater priority for us than the welfare and