North Korea's highest Court has convicted and sentenced an American man to eight years in Llabor Prison and $700,000 fine for entering the country illegally and unspecified hostile acts.
The North says it arrested Gomes, 30, of Boston on Jan. 25 for trespassing, claiming the American crossed into the country from China. Gomes is the fourth American to be detained in communist North Korea on charges of illegal entry in approximately one year.
A North Korea expert at Seoul's Korea University says Gomes will probably, eventually, be released, that North Korea appears to want to use the American as a bargaining chip in negotiating with the U.S. pertaining to its Nuclear Arms Weapons program. North Korea has remained under international pressure to finish stalled Nuclear disarmament talks the country quit last year.