Matthew Miller, of Bakersfield, California was convicted to six years of hard labor in North Korea after entering the country illegally to commit espionage, according to Reuters.
l Miller, 24, 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, Reuters reported.
Miller waived the right to a lawyer and was handcuffed before being led from the courtroom after his sentencing, according to Reuters.
The court, comprising a chief judge flanked by two "people's assessors," ruled it would not hear any appeals to its decision, Reuters reported.
Miller, who looked thin and pale at the trial and was dressed completely in black, and is one of three Americans being held in North Korea, according to Reuters.
Miller was charged under Article 64 of the North Korean criminal code, which is for espionage and can carry a sentence of five to 10 years, though harsher punishments can be given for more serious cases, Reuters reported.
A trial is expected soon for one of the other Americans being held, Jeffrey Fowle, who entered the North as a tourist and was arrested in May for leaving a Bible at a sailor's club in the city of Chongjin, according to Reuters.
The third American, Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae, is serving out a 15-year sentence for alleged "hostile acts," Reuters reported. All three have appealed to the U.S. government to send a senior statesman to Pyongyang to intervene on their behalf.
Following Sunday's court verdict, the U.S. State Department urged North Korea to release Miller, as well as Bae and Fowle, according to Reuters.
"Now that Mr. Miller has gone through a legal process, we urge the DPRK to grant him amnesty and immediate release," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement, using North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Reuters reported.
