U.S. Tells N. Korea American Is No Spy

The State Department rejected as “absolutely ludicrous” North Korea’s assertion that a detained American is a spy.

Spokesman Nicholas Burns said Thursday that Evan C. Hunziker of Tacoma may have been engaged in religious proselytizing, but he was neither a spy nor did he confess to North Korean officials.

Burns again demanded Hunziker’s release in reply to North Korea’s declaration Thursday that the case against the American cannot be resolved unless Washington adopts a more conciliatory attitude.

Hunziker, 26, was detained in August after crossing into North Korea from China. He was charged with spying for South Korea and illegal entry and if convicted faces a possible death sentence.

“If the United States adopts a negative attitude … toward the spy case …, the possibility of a solution will be gloomier,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday.

“Hunziker is a criminal who infiltrated into (North Korea) in violation of its law and a spy manipulated by the puppet” South Korean government, the agency said.