A Christian missionary from Australia is being held captive by the North Korean government on unknown charges.

75-year-old John Short, a missionary to Hong Kong for 50 years, was taken into custody a day after arriving in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.  Short’s family says that police came to his hotel to question him and then later returned to place him under arrest.

While no charges were mentioned for the arrest, Short was believed to be carrying Christian tracts written in the Korean language.

Short has been arrested previously in China for giving out Christian materials including Bibles written in Chinese.

Short is the second Christian missionary known to be held by the North Korean government.  American Kenneth Bae was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after being convicted of committing hostile acts.  Bae provided Christian materials to North Korean Christians.

Australia has no embassy in North Korea and usually works with the Swedish embassy on international matters.  The Swedish embassy says they have had no contact with North Korean officials about Short.