Man accused of trying to 'topple the DPRK' receives 15 years' hard labor

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea said on Thursday it had sentenced a US tour operator to 15 years' hard labor for "hostile acts", stoking tensions with the United States, which had called for his release.

The move could trigger a visit by a high-profile US citizen if history is any guide, and the DPRK is likely to use the detainee as a bargaining chip, experts said, as it seeks concessions from the US following weeks of threats of missile strikes and nuclear war.

Pae Jun-ho, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was arrested in November as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason. He has been accused of trying to "topple the DPRK".

Friends and colleagues say Bae was based in the Chinese border city of Dalian and traveled frequently to the DPRK to feed orphans. Bae's mother in the US did not answer calls seeking comment on Thursday.

"The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labor for this crime," according to the Korean Central News Agency, which said his trial was held on Tuesday.

Pyongyang has not specified the basis of the offenses allegedly committed by Bae, who is reported to be 44 years old, but KCNA has previously said that he admitted to his crimes.

'Bait' for visit

With already abysmal US-DPRK ties worsening since a long-range rocket launch more than a year ago, Pyongyang is fishing for another such meeting, said Ahn Chan-il, head of the World Institute for Korean Studies think tank in the Republic of Korea.

Ahn said the DPRK is "using Bae as bait to make such a visit happen.

"An American bigwig visiting Pyongyang would also burnish Kim Jong-un's leadership profile," Ahn said. Kim took power after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in December 2011.

Washington had urged Pyongyang to free the detainee on "humanitarian grounds", pointing out that he entered the country on a valid visa.

In Washington, the US State Department said it was working with the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang to confirm the report of Bae's sentencing. Washington lacks formal diplomatic ties with Pyongyang and relies on Sweden for diplomatic matters involving US citizens there. The Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang, Karl-Olof Andersson, referred queries to the State Department.

US politician Bill Richardson failed to secure Bae's release when he visited Pyongyang in January with Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.

Richardson, a former New Mexico governor and ex-ambassador to the United Nations, was unable to even meet Bae during his trip, which was criticized by Washington as ill-timed following Pyongyang's satellite launch in December.

Tensions have been running high between Washington and the DPRK since Pyongyang carried out a third nuclear test in February.

Pyongyang reacted furiously to the use of nuclear-capable B-52s and B-2 stealth bombers in recent joint US-ROK military drills.

Parallels to case

There are parallels to a case in 2009. After the DPRK's launch of a long-range rocket and its second underground nuclear test that year, two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after sneaking across the border from China.

They later were pardoned on humanitarian grounds and released to Clinton, who met with then-leader Kim Jong-il. US-DPRK talks came later that year.

In 2011, Carter visited Pyongyang to win the release of imprisoned US citizen Aijalon Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor for crossing illegally into the DPRK from China.

US citizen Eddie Jun was released in 2011 after Robert King, the US envoy on DPRK human rights, traveled to Pyongyang. Jun had been detained for half a year over an unspecified crime.

The two journalists sentenced to hard labor in 2009 stayed in a guesthouse instead of a labor camp due to medical concerns.

AFP-AP-Reuters

(China Daily 05/03/2013 page11)