 "North Korea gives Korean-American 10 years hard labour: Xinhua")
North Korea Friday sentenced a detained Korean-American, Kim Dong-Chul, to 10 years hard labour on charges of subversion and espionage, China's official Xinhua news agency said.
The announcement, which comes at a time of elevated military tensions on the Korean peninsula, followed an even harsher sentence of 15 years hard labour passed last month on a US student, Otto Warmbier, for stealing a propaganda banner from a tourist hotel in Pyongyang.
The brief Xinhua despatch from Pyongyang said Kim's penalty was handed down by North Korea's Supreme Court.
Kim was paraded in front of media cameras in the North Korean capital a month ago, when he admitted to stealing military secrets and pleaded for clemency in a carefully orchestrated "confession".
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.
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.
According to the North's state media, he had been arrested in Rason as he was receiving a USB stick containing nuclear-linked and military secrets from his source.
Foreigners detained in North Korea are often required to make a public, usually officially scripted acknowledgement of wrongdoing as a first step towards a possible release.
Observers said the long sentences handed down to Kim and Warmbier reflected soaring military tensions following the North's nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch a month later.
The United States took a leading role in securing the resulting sanctions that the UN Security Council imposed on the North in March.
The announcement, which comes at a time of elevated military tensions on the Korean peninsula, followed an even harsher sentence of 15 years hard labour passed last month on a US student, Otto Warmbier, for stealing a propaganda banner from a tourist hotel in Pyongyang.
The brief Xinhua despatch from Pyongyang said Kim's penalty was handed down by North Korea's Supreme Court.
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The 62-year-old, who became a naturalised US citizen in 1987, was arrested on espionage charges back in October.
Kim was paraded in front of media cameras in the North Korean capital a month ago, when he admitted to stealing military secrets and pleaded for clemency in a carefully orchestrated "confession".
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.
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.
According to the North's state media, he had been arrested in Rason as he was receiving a USB stick containing nuclear-linked and military secrets from his source.
Foreigners detained in North Korea are often required to make a public, usually officially scripted acknowledgement of wrongdoing as a first step towards a possible release.
Observers said the long sentences handed down to Kim and Warmbier reflected soaring military tensions following the North's nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch a month later.
The United States took a leading role in securing the resulting sanctions that the UN Security Council imposed on the North in March.