North Korea has jailed a US man for 10 years of hard labor for spying on the country.
The 62-year-old Kim Dong-chul, who became a US citizen by naturalization, was born in South Korea and was arrested in October 2015.
Kim apparently confessed to Pyongyang last year in front of reporters that South Korean intelligence officers paid him to spy on the nation.
The US earlier on accused North Korea that it was making use of its own citizens as pawns in a diplomatic game. However, Pyongyang denied the accusations.
When Kim was arrested, the US State Department declined to comment on matter saying that speaking in public over the status of detained US citizens could complicate the steps of getting him released.
North Korea has previously said Kim had a USB stick containing military and nuclear secrets on him when he was arrested in the special economic zone of Rason.
Kim said that the US intelligence officers introduced him to the South Korean spies. His residence was Virginia.
It is common in North Korea to witness forced public confessions.
The imprisonment of Kim is happening at a time when there is high tension. Recent times have seen North Korea conduct numerous missile tests, which the UN is against.
Pyongyang attempted to launch two mid-range ballistic missiles on Thursday which crashed shortly after their launches, prompting an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
There is a belief that the country will soon test its fifth missile.