News Digest

'It's isolation': Detained American describes life in N. Korea hard labour camp

Matthew Miller, the 24-year-old Bakersfield, California-native sentenced to six years of hard labour after being convicted of entering North Korea to commit espionage, says he is digging in fields eight hours a day and being kept in isolation, but that so far his health isn’t deteriorating. Wearing a prison-style grey uniform and cap, Miller was filmed sitting down at a phone booth and pressing the buttons on a phone while a North Korean guard stood behind him. In what was his first appearance since his conviction nearly two weeks ago, Miller was allowed to answer a single question from an Associated Press Television News reporter. He also was allowed to have a phone conversation with his father.

Prison life is eight hours of work per day. Mostly it’s been agriculture, like in the dirt, digging around. Other than that, it’s isolation, no contact with anyone. But I have been in good health, and no sickness or no hurts.

Matthew Miller, 24-year-old American prisoner in North Korea

At Miller’s 90-minute trial, North Korea’s Supreme Court said he tore up his tourist visa at Pyongyang’s airport upon arrival on April 10 and admitted to having the “wild ambition” of experiencing prison life so that he could secretly investigate North Korea’s human rights situation. Miller is one of three Americans detained in North Korea; Jeffrey Fowle, who was arrested in May for leaving a Bible at a sailor’s club, is expected to be tried in court soon, and Kenneth Bae was sentenced in 2013 to 15 years of hard labor.