DPRK sentence US man to 8 years of hard labor for illegally entry

A US citizen has been found guilty for illegally entering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

According to the country's official news agency, Aijalon Mahli Gomes was sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined 700 thousand US dollars. The 31 year old male had been teaching English in South Korea for about two years before travelling to the DPRK, where he was detained on Janurary 25. Representatives from the Swedish embassy were present to witness the trial.

Last March, two female American journalists were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for the same act. But they flew back home together with former U.S. President Bill Clinton in August 2009, after he met the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang.