American Citizen Sentence to 15 Years Hard Labor in North Korea

The American Citizen on trial in North Korea has been sentenced to 15 years hard labor for attempting to overthrow the regime.

by Andrew Freeman
As we reported earlier this week a new complication has surfaced regarding diplomacy between the United States and North Korea, as an American citizen named Kenneth Bae is standing trial for attempting to overthrow the local regime.
According to USA Today:

North Korea says an American detained for nearly six months has been sentenced to 15 years of “compulsory labor” for crimes against the state…Bae was tried in the Supreme Court on charges of plotting to overthrow the government. He could’ve faced the death penalty.

“There’s no parallel here to the legal procedures over there,” said Patricia Gwartney, a UO sociology professor who traveled withStatistics Without Borders to North Korea last year, where she volunteered at a private university in Pyongyang. “They act as, and are, one of the last socialist dynasties. ”
“It’s not uncommon for North Korea to get really upset with the U.S.” said Gwartney. “Every spring, the U.S. and South Korea do joint military exercises right off the coast of North Korea for six weeks, and it alarms them.”
So far there has been no official response from the US.