PYONGYANG, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Sunday that it has no intention to invite U.S. diplomats over the issue of an American citizen who was sentenced 15 years of compulsory labor by the country's Supreme Court on Tuesday.
It is total silly speculation of talking about (Pyongyang taking) the detainee Pae's issue as a "political bargain stake," an unnamed spokesman for the foreign ministry was quoted by the official news agency KCNA as saying.
He stressed that Pae's hostile acts showed again that as long as the United States does not stop its "hostile policy," some Americans' illegal activities against the DPRK would not be exterminated.
The U.S. State Department on Thursday urged Pyongyang to immediately release the sentenced American, who was identified by Pyongyang as Pae Jun Ho and by Washington as Kenneth Bae.
"We urge the DPRK authorities to grant Mr. Bae amnesty and immediate release," said State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell, whose statement came after the Supreme Court of the DPRK rendered the verdict earlier in the day.
Pae, the defendant, was arrested while "committing hostile acts against the DPRK" after entering Rason City as a tourist on Nov. 3 last year, the KCNA said, adding that Pae "admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it and were proved by evidence."
From Jan. 7 to 10, former U.S. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt paid a "private humanitarian" visit to Pyongyang, which was reportedly linked to the release of Pae.
However, Richardson did not elaborate on whether he met Pae or not while commenting the private trip as a "productive and successful one."
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