PYONGYANG: North Korea will put a US citizen on trial, who was held by police last year after entering North Korea as a tourist, for “committing crimes” against the country, state news agency KCNA reported.
The 44-year-old US citizen Kenneth Bae was detained by the police as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason in November last year for a five-day trip with four other tourists.
“In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it,” the KCNA report said, adding that “His crimes were proved by evidence,” and he will be taken to the Supreme Court to “face judgment.”
Tensions between North and South Korea, along with its ally the US, have been very high in recent weeks after the UN increased sanctions on Pyongyang following North Korea’s third nuclear weapons test in February.
DND