(CNN) -- The case of a U.S. citizen sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean labor camp is not a "political bargaining chip," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.
Pae Jun Ho, known as Kenneth Bae by U.S. authorities, was arrested and prosecuted for various crimes aimed at "state subversion," KCNA said. It previously reported the Korean-American was arrested November 3 after arriving as a tourist in Rason City, a port in the northeastern corner of North Korea.
In prior instances, North Korea has released Americans in its custody after a visit by some U.S. dignitary.
But Bae's case could get caught up in the recent tensions between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the North is formally known, and the United States.
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A North Korean court has sentenced Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen, to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the state. Those alleged acts were not detailed by the country's state-run news agency when it announced the sentence Thursday, May 2. Bae, here in a photo from a Facebook page titled Remember Ken Bae, was arrested in November. "This was somebody who was a tour operator, who has been there in the past and has a visa to go to the North," a senior U.S. official told CNN.
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"Whenever Americans were put under custody in the DPRK for violating the country's law, former or incumbent high-ranking American officials flew to Pyongyang and apologized for their crimes and promised to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents. Therefore, the DPRK showed generosity and set them free from the humanitarian point of view," KCNA reported, citing a foreign ministry spokesman.
"Pae's case proves that as long as the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK remains unchanged, humanitarian generosity will be of no use in ending Americans' illegal acts."
According to the report, Bae entered North Korea "with a disguised identity." He reportedly "confessed and admitted his crimes."
"Some media of the U.S. said that the DPRK tried to use Pae's case as a political bargaining chip. This is ridiculous and wrong guess.
"The DPRK has no plan to invite anyone of the U.S. as regards Pae's issue," read the KCNA report.
Last week, the United States demanded Bae's immediate release.
"You all are aware of the history and how this has happened in the past with U.S. citizens," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters in Washington. "But what we're calling for and we're urging the DPRK authorities to do is to grant him amnesty and to allow for his immediate release, full stop."
Ventrell said the State Department was still trying to confirm details of the case through Swedish diplomats who visited Bae last week. Sweden represents U.S. interests in North Korea because Washington has no diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
U.S. officials have struggled to establish how exactly Bae ran afoul of North Korean authorities.
Bae's sister told CNN last week that her brother is the owner of a tour company and was in North Korea for work.
He'd traveled to the country previously with no problems and had no reason to suspect that this time would be different, said Terri Chung.
"You know, Kenneth is a good man; he's not a spy. He has never had any evil intentions against North Korea, or any other country for that matter," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.
North Korea is considered to have one of the most repressive penal systems in the world. Human rights groups estimate that as many as 200,000 people are being held in a network of prison camps that the regime is believed to use to crush political dissent.
CNN's K.J. Kwon and Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.
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North Korea has arrested Americans before, only to release them after a visit by a prominent dignitary. Journalists Laura Ling, center, and Euna Lee, to her right, spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry to conduct a smear campaign. They were freed in 2009 after a trip by former President Bill Clinton.
Former President Jimmy Carter negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was detained in 2010 after crossing into North Korea illegally from China. Analysts say high-level visits give Pyongyang a propaganda boost and a way to save face when it releases a prisoner.
Eddie Yong Su Jun was released by North Korea a month after he was detained in April 2011. His alleged crime was not provided to the media. The American delegation that secured his freedom included Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues.
Robert Park was released by North Korea in 2010 without any apparent U.S. intervention. The Christian missionary crossed into North Korea from China, carrying a letter asking Kim Jong Il to free political prisoners and resign. North Korea's state-run news agency said Park was released after an "admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings." Here, Park holds a photo of Kim and a malnourished child during a protest in Seoul.
Josh Fattal, center, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were detained by Iran while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009. Iran charged them with illegal entry and espionage. Shourd was released on bail for medical reasons in September 2010; she never returned to face her charges. Bauer and Fattal were convicted in August 2011, but the next month they were released on bail and had their sentences commuted.
An Iranian court threw out a death penalty conviction last year for Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine charged with spying. But he still remains in solitary confinement at Iran's notorious Evin Prison. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 during a visit to see his grandmother; his family and the Obama administration deny accusations that he was spying for the CIA.
Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, was also detained at Evin Prison, spending months in solitary confinement before Iran released her on bail in August 2007. Esfandiari was visiting her ailing mother in Tehran when she was arrested and charged with harming Iran's national security.
Alan Gross, at right with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, has been in Cuban custody since December 2009, when he was jailed while working as a subcontractor. Cuban authorities say Gross tried to set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was just trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Former President Jimmy Carter and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have both traveled to Cuba on Gross' behalf, but they were unable to secure his release.
Sixteen Americans were among the dozens arrested in December 2011 when Egypt raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations that it said received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a public license. Many of the employees posted bail and left the country after a travel ban was lifted a few months later. Robert Becker, right, chose to stay and stand trial.
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