North Korea brought an American businessman before cameras Friday to confess to espionage more than a week after sentencing a University of Virginia student to 15 years at hard labor for pilfering.
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His detention first came to public attention when he was produced in January during an interview CNN was conducting with a detained Canadian pastor in a Pyongyang hotel.
Kim Dong Chul, who has 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 deeply apologised for his crimes, the North’s KCNA news agency said.
Sometimes, military tests are meant to see whether weapons systems work.
North Korea is renowned for its saber-rattling and often makes threats of attack and even annihilation against South Korea and the US.
Experts said the North has previously used detained Americans as leverage to force the U.S.to open bilateral talks with it.
Kim was arrested in October a year ago in Rason as he was receiving USB stick containing nuclear-linked and military secrets from his source, Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency said Friday.
Pyongyang has also been angered, as it is annually, by joint US-South Korean military exercises taking place south of the border.
During a meeting with media outlets based in Pyongyang in the presence of North Korean officials, the man, who identified himself as Kim Dong Chul, apologized for trying to steal state and military secrets in collusion with South Koreans.
Tensions have been high on the peninsula since North Korea defied the United Nations with its fourth ever nuclear test in January and subsequent long-range rocket launch.
At the start of the allies’ drills on March 7, North Korea’s powerful National Defense Commission, led by absolute leader Kim Jong Un, warned of a “pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice” on Washington and Seoul.
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South Korean defense officials, however, say there is no proof that North Korea has a functioning intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea in the past released some USA detainees after high-profile American figures visited the country. He described the acts as part of a greater plot aimed at overthrowing North Korea’s government.
