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US Citizen Accused Of Espionage Sentenced To 10 Years In North Korea

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Steve Birr Vice Reporter
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North Korea has sentenced a former Virginia resident to ten years of hard labor in a prison camp, accusing the man of espionage against the country on behalf of South Korea.

Sixty-two-year old Kim Dong-Chul, a South Korean native who acquired U.S. citizenship in 1987, was detained in October. After a short trial staged to give the appearance of a fair judicial proceeding, officials sentenced Kim to ten years in a labor camp. North Korea alleges Kim spied for the south and spread religious materials to North Korean citizens, in direct violation of their criminal code, reports The Washington Post.

North Korea’s official state sponsored media outlet Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported prosecutors wanted a 15 year sentence like the one recently handed down to a 21-year-old University of Virginia student. Kim’s defense allegedly negotiated the term down to ten years, citing his old age and arguing the labor camp may help him see the “true picture of the prospering DPRK,” the abbreviation used for North Korea.

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“The accused confessed to all crimes he had committed to overthrow the social system of the DPRK while viciously slandering the dignity of its supreme leadership and its political system and gathered and offered information on its party, state and military affairs to the south Korean puppet regime, which are tantamount to state subversive plots and espionages,” KCNA said.

North Korea released a video of Kim in March, confessing to his alleged crimes and calling them “unpardonable.” Despite the forced confession admitting to espionage, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Kim was not working for them in any capacity, reports WJLA.

Previous detainees who have since been released confirmed their confessions were forced through coercion. In the past, the majority of Americans held by North Korea were released before serving their full sentence.

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