A news team of jTBC, the Joongang Ilbo's new cable TV channel to be launched soon, was arrested in China for gathering news in the North Korea-China border region, it emerged Thursday.

Six jTBC reporters were caught by Chinese soldiers shooting a video in the Chinese military zone in the Duman (or Tumen) River basin on Tuesday, a diplomatic source said. "They're being detained on espionage charges after being handed over to police."

The group also included Ahn Byung-min, the chief of a research center run by the Korea Transport Institute, and a local guide. But senior jTBC reporter Moon Chang-keuk, who led the team, was not arrested because he was not with the reporters at the time, the source said.

The reporters were arrested because they carried tourist rather than press visas, the source added.