North Korean authorities announced Korean American tour guide Kenneth Bae will face trial for “committing crimes” against the North, reports Swiss Info.
Bae was with a group of 5 tourists when he was arrested November 3. The announcement of his pending trial is sure to stoke already high tensions between the United States and North Korea, which has threatened a nuclear strike against U.S. military bases in the Pacific and the South.
“In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) with hostility toward it,” KCNA state media reported.
An unverified report from A South Korean newspaper said Bae may have been carrying footage of North Korea executing defectors and dissidents.
In January, former U.N. ambassador Bill Richardson made a trip to North Korea to deliver a letter about Bae to North Korean officials.
You can read more about the escalating tensions in North Korea in the Swiss Info.