North Korea’s Supreme Court has sent another USA citizen to prison, sentencing a Korean American man to 10 years in prison and hard labor over espionage charges.
Advertisement
Kim Dong-chul, who previously said he was a naturalised American citizen and was arrested in North Korea in October, admitted to committing “unpardonable espionage” under the direction of the US and South Korean governments and apologised for his crimes, the North’s KCNA news agency said.
A Korean-born USA citizen has been jailed for 10 years in North Korea after being convicted of spying for South Korea.
Kim Dong Chul was arrested in North Korea and admitted on committing unpardonable espionage which includes stealing of military secrets.
“Given that North Korea ventured to test two of its Musudan missiles after its previous failure, we can not rule out the possibility of Pyongyang conducting more launches”, said defense ministry spokesperson Moon Sang-gyun at a briefing.
“GIs hurled fully armed MPs of the South Korean puppet army into perpetrating such risky provocations as aiming at”, North Korea’s military, a statement carried by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
Americans Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae went home in November 2014 after their release was secured through a secret mission by the top US intelligence official. His two daughters live in NY and his siblings in South Korea, according to KCNA.
A Canadian pastor, Hyeon Soo Lim, was sentenced to a life of hard labour in December for so-called crimes against the state.
Otto Frederick Warmbier, a USA student who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in March 2016 for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel and “crimes against the state”.
Forced public confessions by foreign prisoners are common in North Korea.
The North does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information.
The United States has no diplomatic or consular relations with the North. The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang provides limited consular services to U.S. citizens detained there.
The tests have increased tension on the Korean peninsula and angered North Korea’s ally China.
North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spies to overthrow its government.
Advertisement
Since the mass-defection incident of North Korean restaurant workers to South Korea in the first week of April, North Korean authorities have been calling the incident an “abduction” organized by South Korean intelligence.
