North Korea has expelled a United States citizen for allegedly stealing military secrets.
Pyongyang's official news agency the Korean Central News Agency said the American, So Sun-Dok ,an ethnic Korean, had been caught spying in September, and that he had admitted and apologized for his actions.
The agency said he would normally have been harshly punished but that Washington had requested leniency.
Mr So who was arrested in the Rajin-Sonbong special economic zone is the third American to be expelled from North Korea in the past two years. His expulsion comes as Washington and Pyongyang hold sensitive talks in Berlin to improve their often strained relations.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service