North Korea said on Saturday that it would try a US citizen for crimes against the state, in a move likely to worsen the breakdown in relations between the two countries
Kenneth Bae was detained last November in North Korea’s Rason special economic zone, having entered the country from China as part of a small tourist group. Pyongyang disclosed the arrest without giving details of the alleged offences committed by Mr Bae, who is of Korean ethnicity and was referred to in the statement as Pae Jun Ho.
On Saturday North Korean state media said that the preliminary inquiry into Mr Bae’s alleged crimes had been concluded, and that he would now go before the country’s supreme court.