I wouldn't put it past N. Korean regime to kidnap him, but at this point, we really don't know what happened to him.
P!
It is not uncommon for hikers to fall off of a cliff and if you fall off a cliff in an area that is unpopulated or sparsely populated, you will never be found.
You will be eaten, maybe by animals.
North Korea has a long history of kidnapping foreigners, especially Japanese. There are many dozens (some say hundreds) of cases of Japanese people being snatched in Japan or abroad and held in North Korea for decades. Also South Koreans and other foreigners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductions_of_Japanese_citizens
I suspect many if not most were quietly executed when their usefulness was at an end.
No, we don’t know what happened to him. And I really feel for the parents. But it’s not going to be CNN who will shed any light on it. They are completely untrustworthy. If they had comments on their crappy site, I would point that out to any poor viewers they may still have. Thanks for posting, but I call ‘em as I see ‘em.