朝鮮判處一名韓裔美國人15年勞役徒刑

朝鮮官方“朝中社”星期四說， 韓裔美國人裴埈皓(英文名：肯尼斯.裴)星期二被朝鮮最高法院裁定有罪。

此前朝鮮表示，裴埈皓承認犯下了目的要推翻朝鮮政府的罪行，但是卻沒有詳細說明那些所謂罪名的確切性質(zhì)。

44歲的裴埈皓去年11月在朝鮮東北部的港口城市羅先被捕。羅先是位于中俄邊境附近的一個特別經(jīng)濟區(qū)。

美國之音獲悉，韓裔美國人裴埈皓是一家旅行社的代表，他可能因為攜帶的電腦里有敏感或引起爭議的信息被捕。

本星期早些時候，美國國務(wù)院呼吁朝鮮出于人道主義釋放裴埈皓。國務(wù)院說，美國公民的福祉是“關(guān)鍵的和當務(wù)之急的”。

North Korea says it has sentenced an American citizen to 15 years of hard labor after finding him guilty of committing what it says are "hostile acts" against the state.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday that Pae Jun-ho, known as Kenneth Bae in the United States, was convicted by the country's supreme court Tuesday.

North Korea previously said he confessed to committing crimes aimed at overthrowing the government. But it has not specified the exact nature of those alleged crimes.

The 44-year-old was arrested in November in the northeastern port city of Rason, which lies in a special economic zone near the border with Russia and China.

VOA has learned that Bae was a Korean-American tour operator who may have been arrested after being found with a computer that carried sensitive or controversial information.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department called for North Korea to release Bae on humanitarian grounds, saying the welfare of American citizens is a "critical and top priority."