US calls for release of imprisoned citizen in North Korea

The United States called on North Korea Thursday to offer "amnesty and immediate release" to a US citizen sentenced to 15 years of hard labour by a North Korean court, dpa reported.

"There is no greater priority for us than the welfare of US citizens abroad," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said following the sentencing of Kenneth Bae.

Ventrell pointed to a lack of transparency in the prosecution and in the North Korean justice system. He provided no information on possible plans by high-profile US figures to travel to North Korea to seek Bae's release.