North Korea Sentences American Matthew Miller To Six Years Hard Labor

North Korea announced this week that it had sentenced American traveler Matthew Miller to six years of hard labor for allegedly trying to commit an act of espionage when he entered the country back in April.

Miller, who is in his mid-twenties and is from Bakersfield, California, was reportedly detained in North Korea back in April after he reportedly ripped up his tourist visa at the Pyongyang airport, declaring that he was not a tourist and wanted to seek asylum in the isolated country.

North Korea's court claims Miller chose to rip up his visa because he wanted to "experience prison life so that he could investigate the human rights situation."

Uri Tours, the tour company that hosts tours of North Korea, said that following the incident with Miller, it will make more of an effort to vet those who wish to join a tour of the Asian country.

"Although we ask a series of tailored questions on our application form designed to get to know a traveler and his/her interests, it's not always possible for us to foresee how a tourist may behave during a DPRK tour," Andrea Lee, chief executive of the tour company, told the Los Angeles Times.

Miller was able to be briefly interviewed by CNN journalists earlier this year, during which the young man said he had implored President Obama to facilitate his release from the country. "My situation is very urgent," he told CNN. "I think this interview is my final chance to push the American government into helping me."

The U.S. has reportedly demanded North Korea release Miller and two other Americans being held in custody in North Korea, with State Department spokesperson Darby Holladay saying the U.S. asked North Korea to "grant them amnesty and immediate release so they may reunite with their families."