This 2005 photo provided by the Palo Alto Weekly shows Merrill Newman, a retired finance executive and Red Cross volunteer, in Palo Alto, Calif. An 85-year-old American veteran of the Korean War has been detained in North Korea since last month. The son of Merrill Newman told the San Jose Mercury News on Wednesday his father was taken off a plane set to leave North Korea on Oct. 26. Jeffrey Newman said no reason was given. (AP Photo/Palo Alto Weekly, Nicholas Wright)North Korea has tested through Swedish officers in Pyongyang that it has detained a U.S. citizen, a State Department legitimate stated on Friday, after experiences that an eighty five-yr-previous California man used to be pulled off a aircraft as he used to be about to leave the u . s . a .. "Our Swedish defending power has been informed of the detention of a U.S. citizen," State Division spokeswoman Jen Psaki instructed reporters. The domestic of Merrill Newman, a retiree from Palo Alto, California, and Korean Warfare veteran, stated he was once taken away by using North Korean officials.