North Korea sentences South Koreans to life imprisonment for spying

SEOUL, June 23 (UPI) -- North Korea has sentenced two South Korean nationals to life imprisonment with hard labor on charges of espionage.

Pyongyang's state media outlet KCNA announced Tuesday that Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil were being given sentences commensurate to their purported anti-North Korea crimes, South Korean newspaper Donga Ilbo reported.

Kim and Choe were charged with spying on behalf of the United States and South Korea governments. North Korea claimed the two admitted to the crime, and to plotting the overthrow of North Korea, as well as crossing illegally into the country.

North Korea's charges of espionage are groundless, South Korea's Unification Ministry said Tuesday.

Yonhap reported Seoul has called the life sentences "regrettable" and asked again for the detainees' immediate release.

KCNA said the "string-pulling" tactics of the United States and South Korea had been deployed in an assassination attempt on North Korea's highest leadership, and that in the course of trial Kim and Choe admitted to involvement.

Pyongyang said the two detainees were engaged in a larger U.S. and South Korea plot to use "human rights as a pretext" in order to accuse North Korea of creating counterfeit currency and terrorism and keep it in isolation.

The two South Koreans also admitted to attempting to spread "bourgeois culture" inside North Korea, according to Pyongyang.

North Korea first announced Kim and Choe were in custody in March. North Korea's state security department said they had approached ethnic Korean-Chinese, Chinese nationals and North Korea cross-border traders for sensitive information.

Seoul said it has requested information on two other South Korean nationals, Joo Won-moon and Kim Jung-wook, and has urged their release.