American Matthew Miller Faces North Korean Trial Next Week

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- Matthew Miller, one of three detained Americans in North Korea, will face trial next week, a short statement carried by state media said Sunday, without elaborating on the charges against the U.S. citizen. Miller, a resident of Bakersfield, Calif., will go to trial in North Korea Sept. 14, the short statement said. The 26-year-old was arrested in April for tearing up his visa upon his arrival in the isolated country, state media said at the time.

The statement did not mention fellow U.S. citizen Jeffrey Fowle, 56, who was arrested in May after he left a Bible in the toilet of a sailor’s club in the port town of Chongjin.

U.S. missionary Kenneth Bae has been held by the isolated country since December 2012: He is currently serving a sentence of 15 years at hard labor for crimes North Korea said amounted to a plot to overthrow the state.

North Korea, under heavy United Nations sanctions related to its nuclear and missile programs, is widely believed to be using the detained U.S. citizens to extract a high-profile visit from Washington, with whom it has no formal diplomatic relations.

This month, representatives of international media outlets were granted rare access to the detained Americans, who in separate interviews each called on the U.S. to secure their early release.

(Reporting by James Pearson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)