North Korea Detains American Tourist for 'Committing Crimes' to 'Topple DPRK'

A Korean-American tourist sitting in jail since last year will stand trial for accusations he was "committing crimes" in an attempt to bring down the North's government, Pyongyang announced over the weekend.

North Korea has detained several native Korean U.S. citizens in recent years as a kind of bargaining chip to elicit visits from American dignitaries, perhaps most famously a trip by former President Bill Clinton to Pyongyang in 2009.

The jailed American man, 44-year-old Kenneth Bae, has been in police custody ever since he arrived in the northeastern city of Rajin in early November as part of a group of five tourists.

"In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea's state-run media reported. DPRK is North Korea's say-it-and-believe-it official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"His crimes were proved by evidence," the KCNA added, explaining Bae would soon go to trial at the country's Supreme Court " to face judgement."

According to South Korean human rights advocates, Bae may have been detained over photographs he took that included images of homeless North Korean children. Pyongyang may also be worried Bae planned to circulate video he filmed of North Korea's execution of "defectors and dissidents," a South Korean evangelical newspaper suggested. Although, due to the country's extreme isolation, as NBC News noted, it is "impossible to verify this".

North Korea's law states that the penalty for "hostile acts" against the government is anywhere from five to 10 years of "hard labor".

Washington, D.C. urged North Korea to release Bae at once.

"We call on the DPRK to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds," U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said.

An unidentified U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the U.S. did not want Bae's detainment "exploited for political gain".

"In the past there have been many ... instances where American citizens are used as political bargaining chips and our concern is that this individual not be used in that manner," said the U.S. official.

North Korea has continued to ratchet up its aggressive rhetoric on a near-daily basis ever since its third nuclear test launch in February. In recent months, North Korea has released a seemingly endless flood of nearly daily threats aimed at South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. and its military bases in the region. Many analysts believe North Korea's constant antagonism is a result of crippling economic sanctions brought against the country by the U.N. due to Pyongyang's refusal to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Some experts on the region think the North's recent hostility is likely a result of the international community's almost complete dismissal of its demand to be formally recognized as a nuclear weapons state; the U.S. described the declaration as "neither realistic nor acceptable".

Many analysts believe North Korea's nearly-endless flood of aggressive actions is meant to pressure the U.S. into disarmament-for-aid discussions and strengthen its people's devotion to new leader Kim Jong Un by showing he is a powerful military commander. Some also note that it's likely the majority of Pyongyang's threats are merely attempts to feel out, or intimidate South Korea's recently elected - and thus untested - president, and for Kim Jong Un - also a fairly new leader - to prove his mettle to an inert national audience.

After months of blistering war rhetoric, Pyongyang had recently softened its tone, setting terms for opening up a dialogue with the U.S. and South Korea last week, signaling the insular nation may understand it has backed itself into a diplomatic corner with its incessant nuclear posturing. Of course, North Korea's conditions weren't exactly what most would consider reasonable: Pyongyang said the country would only enter into discussions if the United Nations removed the sanctions against it and the U.S. and South agreed to total nuclear disarmament.

The U.S. responded incredulously, saying North Korea needed to denuclearize first and cease missile launches before discussions could truly open up between the nations; a suggestion that Pyongyang's Rodong Sinmun newspaper outright rejected.