U.S. seeks North Korean amnesty for American jailed for 15 years
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea sentenced an American citizen to 15 years of hard labor on Thursday for crimes against the state, prompting a U.S. call for his amnesty in hopes of avoiding him becoming a bargaining chip between the two countries.
Kenneth Bae, 44, was born in South Korea but is a naturalized citizen and attended the University of Oregon. His sentencing comes after two months of saber-rattling that saw North Korea threaten the United States and South Korea with nuclear war.
Pyongyang has previously tried to use American prisoners as bargaining chips in talks with Washington. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Washington was not currently looking for an envoy to try to secure Bae's release as it sometimes has done.
The official said the United States has sought in recent years to break out of its pattern of lurching from one crisis to another with the North, only to resolve them with transactional deals with Pyongyang.
http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-sentences-american-15-years-hard-labor-134445844.html