US man sentenced to six years hard labor in North Korea

During a brief session lasting less than two hours on Sunday, North Korea's Supreme Court said Miller had tried to commit an act of espionage as a tourist to the country and would be denied any appeal.

"He committed acts hostile to the (North) while entering the territory of the (North) under the guise of a tourist last April," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a report, without elaborating further.

The 24-year-old resident of Bakersfield, California, was detained by North Korean authorities in April after he allegedly tore up his tourist visa at Pyongyang's airport and demanded asylum.

Photos of the trial published by state media (including the photo above) showed Miller sitting in a witness box flanked by North Korean soldiers. Images of his passport and ripped North Korean visa were also released.

Miller is one of three US citizens currently being held by the pariah state. A trial date is yet to be announced for 56-year-old Jeffrey Fowle of Ohio, who entered North Korea as a tourist, and was detained in May for reportedly leaving a Bible in a hotel in the eastern port city of Chongjin.

A third US citizen, missionary Kenneth Bae, has been in custody since December 2012, and is serving out a 15-year labor camp sentence for allegedly seeking to overthrow the North Korean regime.

Miller's sentencing comes a fortnight after all three men used a televised interview with CNN in Pyongyang to make a plea for the US government to negotiate their release.

"My situation is very urgent," Miller said in the September 1 broadcast. "I think this interview is my final chance to push the American government into helping me."

Earlier this month, the White House called on Pyongyang to release its citizens, and said it was doing everything it could "to secure their earliest possible release."

nm/sms (Reuters, AP, AFP)