North Korea has said an American tourist detained for nearly six months will face trial for plotting to overthrow the government, a move that could further increase tensions in the region.
The case involves Kenneth Bae, who was arrested in early November. If convicted, he could face the death penalty, news reports said.
The trial comes amid weeks of heightened rhetoric and tensions pitting Pyongyang against Seoul and Washington.
On Saturday, South Korea pulled out most its workers from a joint industrial complex after Pyongyang rejected its ultimatum to begin talks on restarting the stalled operations.
Seoul said it would pull out all 170 remaining workers from Kaesong The move plunged into doubt the future of the Kaesong complex - once a rare symbol of cooperation between the North and the South and a crucial source of hard currency for Kim Jong-Un's isolated regime.
Mr Bae, described as a Korean-American tour operator, was arrested in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, according to official state media.
The 44-year-old was among a group of five people.
Young leader Kim Jong-Un has succeeded his father The exact nature of his alleged crimes has not been revealed, but Pyongyang accuses him of seeking to overthrow North Korea's leadership.
"In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) with hostility toward it," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
South Korea-US joint drills have angered Pyongyang "His crimes were proved by evidence. He will soon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to face judgment."
No timing for the verdict was given.
A number of US citizens of Korean descent have run into trouble in the North over the years.
In one famous case, former President Bill Clinton travelled to the reclusive nation in 2009 to win the release of two Americans.
Friends and colleagues described Bae as a devout Christian from Washington state but based in the Chinese border city of Dalian who travelled frequently to North Korea to feed the country's orphans, the AP news agency reported.
Under North Korea's criminal code, crimes against the state can draw life imprisonment or the death sentence.
Pyongyang is locked in a standoff with the Obama administration over North Korea's drive to build nuclear weapons.
The Kaesong complex was established in 2004 Washington has led the campaign to punish Pyongyang for launching a long-range rocket in December and carrying out a nuclear test, its third, in February.
North Korea says the need to build atomic weapons to defend itself against the US, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea.
Over the past two months the US has been holding joint military drills with South Korea that have included nuclear-capable stealth bombers and fighter jets, angering Pyongyang.
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