By Chung Min-uck
A Korean-American detained in North Korea may face the death penalty or be sentenced to reeducation through labor for an indefinite term, the Japanese Kyodo News Agency reported Sunday.
Quoting an anonymous source from North Korea familiar with the case, it reported the North's public security authorities are to indict Bae Jun-ho, a Korean-American tour operator who is also known as Kenneth Bae in English, on a criminal charge.
Bae was arrested by the security authorities in early November.
Pyongyang later announced that Bae entered the nation on Nov. 3 and committed a crime but didn't specify the nature of it.
The source speculated that Bae could have been arrested for criticizing the North Korean regime as a dictatorship.
Experts say the move may be aiming to bring Washington back to bilateral talks which have been halted since Pyongyang's rocket launch in April.
They say the North intentionally leaked on the situation facing Bae to dissuade U.S.-led forces from tightening sanctions against it over the latest rocket launch in December.
Currently, the United Nations Security Council members are having a last-minute consultation on new sanctions to be imposed on North Korea regarding the December launch.
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