The American detained in North Korea in late April has a well-traveled background.

He’s also a devout Baptist, but his attorney has denied that he was taking part in a church mission.

Jeffrey Edward Fowle, 56, of Ohio arrived in North Korea in late April, the state-run KCNA reported late last week. He was detained sometime after that for an unidentified “violation of the DPRK law.”

Fowle, the Wall Street Journal has reported, has made repeated trips to Russia with his wife, a Russian immigrant, and in 1997 visited the former Yugoslavia, spending four days in Sarajevo.

Fowle, who