Imprisoned American wanted to reveal human rights situation: Pyongyang

North Korea claimed Saturday that an American it recently sentenced to six years of hard labor intended to go to prison to reveal the human rights situation in the North to the world, and seek political refuge by pretending to have secret information about the U.S. government.

   On Sunday, the North sentenced Matthew Todd Miller to six years of hard labor for committing acts hostile to the communist nation. 

Miller had been indicted on charges of tearing up his tourist visa and seeking asylum upon entering the North in April. Miller is one of three American citizens currently detained in the North.

   The two others are Jeffrey Edward Fowle, who entered the North in late April and has since been detained for leaving a Bible in a hotel, and Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary, who was detained in late 2012 and has since been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for unspecified anti-state crimes.

   The North's report came after Washington accused Pyongyang of seeking to "use these U.S. citizens as pawns to pursue its own political agenda."

   According to the Korean Central News Agency, Miller had the "foolish" idea of observing prison and human rights conditions while experiencing "prison life" after intentionally committing crimes.

   "If he succeeded in going to 'prison' and have negotiations for Bae's release and become witnesses together with Bae disclosing the human rights situation in the DPRK after leaving prison," the KCNA said in an English-language report, citing the results of a investigation into Miller.

   The DPRK is the North's official name and stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

   The state media also said Miller had prepared a memo book in advance that stated he was seeking political asylum after failing to collect information about the U.S government. Miller also had prepared portable electronic devices he claimed contained important information about U.S. military bases in South Korea, the KCNA said.   

North Korea has sought to use the detained Americans as leverage to reopen long-stalled nuclear negotiations with the U.S. Pyongyang arranged for all three of them to be interviewed by the American news channel CNN and got them to ask Washington to send a special envoy.

   The U.S. has refused to resume negotiations with Pyongyang unless the communist regime first takes steps demonstrating its seriousness about giving up its nuclear program. The six-party nuclear talks have been stalled since the last session in late 2008. (Yonhap)