North Korea will put American on trial

North Korea will put a detained U.S. citizen on trial for illegally entering the country from China.

Authorities have indicted Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a man in his early 30s from Boston, according to a brief dispatch Monday from the country's state news agency.

The news agency didn't elaborate on the exact charges against Gomes.

Monday's announcement came as regional powers are pushing for North Korea to rejoin international disarmament talks on its nuclear weapons program. The North pulled out of the arms talks last year in protest against international criticism of a rocket launch.

North Korea said in January it had detained an American man in addition to Korean-American missionary Robert Park. International media are speculating that Gomes is the unidentified detainee, but the North Korean government hasn't confirmed this.

Park illegally crossed the border into North Korea last Christmas Day, officials said. He was released after 43 days of captivity.

In March 2009, North Korea arrested two U.S. journalists for trespassing and conducting "hostile acts." They were eventually sentenced to 12 years of hard labour, but were freed in August after former U.S. president Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang to secure their releases.