A North Korean court has sentenced a Korean-American man to 10 years of hard labor. It said Kim was born in Seoul in 1953 and emigrated to the U.S.in 1972, and later became a naturalized citizen.
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At that time, Kim said he had been living in China near the North Korean border for the past 15 years, commuting regularly to Rason-a North Korean special economic zone.
North Korea flouted that warning Thursday by firing the two Musudan missiles from sites near Wonsan, a port on North Korea’s east coast, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. Kim further confessed that he has been asked to destroy North Korea’s system and spread propaganda against it. “After the first missile launch ended in failure on April 15, we thought they might take some time to fix the defects, but they seem to have made a decision to go out of their way to attempt a second launch within a short period of time”, the official said.
US and South Korean officials have expressed worries that North Korea could try a nuclear test that was fifth in a display of strength ahead of the congress.
A University of Virginia student confessed to a “severe crime” during an orchestrated news conference in North Korea on February 29.
However, the broadcaster said forced public confessions by foreign prisoners are common.
Kim confessed that he had been introduced to South Korean spies by the USA intelligence officers.
North Korea believes the USA uses spies to overturn its government and let South Korea gain control.
Some experts had predicted that North Korea would wait until it figured out what went wrong in the previous launch before attempting another, a process that could take months. He was sentenced a day after North Korea carried out two provocative – but apparently failed – missile tests.
Besides Kim and Warmbier, North Korea is holding a South Korean-born Canadian pastor, the Rev. Lim Hyeon-soo, who is serving a life sentence of hard labor on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.
North Korea has also sentenced Otto Warmbier, an American, who stole propaganda banner in the country.
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The North has sent an email to the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross since the country cut off the main inter-Korean communication hotlines in February. “This is a daily occurrence in the United States”. These cases also come in the lead-up to the first Korean Worker’s Party Congress since 1980, on May 6, when global attention on North Korea is also likely to increase.
