CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: CNN talking exclusively to a man detained by North Korea who the secretive regime says is an American citizen. Government officials there say he's facing espionage charges after handing over confidential information to South Korea. CNN international correspondent Will Ripley is live in Pyongyang. He has the exclusive. Will, what do you make of the situation?</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, for the North Korean regime, this is all about political leverage. Just days after the nuclear test that really, really irritated the entire world and after the U.S. in a B-52 bomber over the weekend close to the border between North and South Korea, now the North Koreans present this man who carries a United States passport and confesses to us that he has been spying and sending information to South Korea. An American citizen saying this. Now, we don't know if he was saying this under duress. We do believe that our entire conversation was being monitored from another room at the hotel where we conducted the interview. But listen as he describes in detail what he says he did.</s>RIPLEY: How did it work, how did you pass on the information that you collected? KIM DONG CHUL, NORTH KOREAN DETAINEE</s>RIPLEY: The South Korean government calling his claims groundless. The U.S. state department not even confirming his claims that he's a U.S. citizen and not commenting saying it could really complicate the process of getting an American citizen back after being detained, but we do know, Michaela, that the Swedish Embassy here in Pyongyang was contacted by the U.S. state department after CNN contacted them about this story.</s>MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Will Ripley with that report. Thank you so much for that. Meanwhile authorities in Mexico want to have a word with actor Sean Penn. The actor interviewed the drug lord El Chapo in October when police couldn't find me. We'll get reaction from Mexico and how people there reacting to this interview and to the capture of this drug lord.
North Korean Espionage Suspect Interviewed