PYONGYANG, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) listed the crimes of detained American Pae Jun Ho late Thursday, accusing him of conducting hostile acts, the official news agency KCNA reported.
"The court sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor in consideration of candid confession of his crimes though they are liable to face death penalty or life imprisonment for an attempt at state subversion," an unnamed Supreme Court spokesman said.
The statement came after the U.S. government and media claimed that "Pae was not tried in a transparent manner and Pyongyang was trying to use this issue as a political bargaining chip."
According to the statement, Pae conducted "a malignant smear campaign" against the DPRK and incited DPRK citizens overseas and foreigners to perpetrate hostile acts.
Pae gave lectures to more than 1,500 people slandering the Juche idea of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK's socialist system and instigated them to bring down the government, it said.
He infiltrated at least 250 students into the city of Rason under the guise of tourists and "was caught red-handed" bringing with him anti-DPRK literature on in November last year, it added.
Pae was arrested on Nov. 3 while "committing hostile acts against the DPRK" and has "admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it and were proved by evidence."
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Sunday that Pyongyang has no intention to invite U.S. diplomats to Pyongyang over the issue.
The United States has called on the DPRK to immediately release Pae, who was sentenced to 15 years of compulsory labor earlier this month.
Pae, a Washington state resident, is at least the sixth American detained in the DPRK since 2009.
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