Bae, also known as Pae Jun Ho, is accused of attempting to "topple" North Korea, according to state-run media. He has supposedly admitted the charges.

"The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labour for this crime," North Korea's official news agency announced Thursday.

Bae, 44, was detained in the northeast city of Rason on Nov. 3 after entering North Korea on a tourist visa.

According to reports, he is a Korean-American who runs a travel company and was in the country to lead a tour group. A devout Christian, he had made several previous trips to North Korea to do humanitarian work, friends told the Associated Press.

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So this week, reporters and Korea watchers are pouring ink over what could happen to Bae and how he got himself in the knotty situation. Was he caught handing out Bibles in a country nervous about foreign Christian influences? Will he go to prison for life? Get the death penalty?

And the big-picture questions. Will Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter make a visit to secure his release? Will Bae be used as a bargaining chip in nuclear negotiations?

The problem is, in the strange absence of any specific statement from North Korean media, we really have no idea why Bae is being put on trial. On Saturday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) only said this:

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"Genuine dialog is possible only at the phase where the DPRK has acquired nuclear deterrent enough to defuse the US threat of nuclear war unless the US rolls back its hostile policy," the North's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency, KCNA.

The statement came after a series of escalating threats against both the US and its neighbor, South Korea.

President Barack Obama said in an interview Tuesday that it is likely that North Korea will display more "provocative behavior" but that it would not be rewarded.

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But how does the threat of military action play for foreign investors in South Korea?

Today, President Park Geun-hye met with foreign investors from Google, Citibank and Siemens — to name a few corporations — in her administration's Blue House, reported the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. She tried to assure them that her administration would create a stable investment environment despite North Korea's bluster.

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But a missile attack isn't as likely as you'd think, despite the war rhetoric.

Analysts here in Seoul seem to agree that, if the press reports are true, the pariah state is probably prepping a test of the medium-range BM-25 Musudan missile. The device could, in theory, reach US bases in Japan and Guam.

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The announcement follows last month's hacking attack that brought down the servers of two major banks and three broadcasters in Seoul. The identity of those behind the attacks in March is still under investigation, though there has been some speculative finger pointing at North Korea.

"We will cooperate with the US to prepare measures in cyber policy, technology and information," a senior ministry official said, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

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The plan lays out how the allies will communicate with each other and react to any future aggression from North Korea.

It provides for a joint response from the two countries, even if there is a limited attack from the North.

North and South Korea are still technically at war after signing an armistice, not peace treaty. Previously, help from the US and its 28,000 troops in South Korea was optional in minor skirmishes.

In the event of a large-scale resumption of war, according to GlobalPost senior correspondent in Korea, Geoffrey Cain, the US will assume operational command over all forces in South Korea.

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The London Telegraph reported that the alleged murder plot may have been the work of a faction loyal to Kim Yong Chol, a four-star general demoted last year before being restored to his previous rank and rehabilitated.

The Telegraph cited the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper as reporting that an exchange of gunfire in Pyongyang last November may have signaled the attempt.

The Express, meantime, quoted a source as saying:

"It appeared that disgruntled people inside the North moved before the time of the demotion of Kim Yong Chol."

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Most experts agree a full-blown war or a nuclear attack on the peninsula is off the cards. But the two Koreas have dialed up the rhetoric over the past week, raising fears that Pyongyang could launch a quick but containable provocation against the South in the coming months.

Last week, the North threatened to exercise what it called a “right” to a preemptive nuclear attack in response to the United Nations’ decision to expand economic sanctions.

The situation could worsen following the US State Department’s announcement Tuesday that it will expand its own restrictions on four North Korean officials and the Foreign Trade Bank of North Korea.

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As tensions escalated between the countries that are still technically at war, a North Korean general said on Thursday that Pyongyang had long-range missiles armed with nuclear warheads on standby.

Col. Gen. Kang Pyo-yong said North Korean soldiers were ready to launch a "war of reunification," the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

He said the missile warheads could turn Washington and other allies into a "sea of fire."

More on GlobalPost: UN approves sanctions after North Korea threatens nuclear strike against US

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The vote on whether to increase sanctions against Pyongyang was prompted by the hermit kingdom's nuclear test last month. The UN decision came hours after North Korea had ramped up its rhetoric yet again, threatening a "preemptive" nuclear strike against the United States.

The Associated Press quoted a spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry as saying that Pyonyang would "exercise the right to a pre-emptive nuclear strikes on the headquarters of the aggressors." According to the AP, the spokesman also alleged that Washington is gearing up to start a nuclear war against North Korea.

The country's foreign ministry warned earlier this week that a second Korean war is "unavoidable" now that both the United States and South Korea are refusing Pyongyang's demands to cancel large-scale joint military exercises.

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The heightened seismic activity came at 11:57 a.m. near the Chinese border. The South Korean Defense Ministry estimates the detonated bomb to have weighed six to eight kilotons.

According to monitors at the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation in Vienna, the resulting blast was twice as powerful as North Korea's last nuclear test in 2009.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry said the latest test was "only the first action," and threatened more could follow.

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Following two botched satellite launch attempts, an air of tension surrounded the televised countdown today at the Naro Space Center, off the country’s remote southern coast.

Upon lift-off, Korean television broadcasted the crowd of onlookers applauding and cheering, a relief from the anxiety beforehand.

The two-staged Naro space rocket, known in long-form as the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), finally accomplished its mission after its second stage went into orbit, delivering a South Korean satellite into outer space.

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But the reaction among his peers wasn’t what it used to be. “So old, so old,” a friend jabbed lightheartedly.

At a nearby café, a Chinese-Cambodian businesswoman said she was saving money to get cosmetic surgery in Gangnam, the glamorous Beverly Hills of Seoul that Psy raps about in his global hit.

But the lure of plastic surgery in Korea — a trendy item for Asian women who want the pointy nose and larger eyes they consider beautiful — is apparently wearing off too.

“I should be careful. I don’t want to look like those K-pop girls. Too fake,” she said. “And those K-drama men, ugh, they look girly. Too much make-up.”

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As with virtually anything surrounding North Korea, the journey has triggered speculation and intrigue.

Google says the trip is a personal humanitarian mission, and won’t comment further. Schmidt will travel with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a seasoned North Korea negotiator, sources have told AP. Presumably Richardon’s negotiation services will yield something other than an umbrella drink at the Pyongyang Four Seasons.

Schmidt has been an advocate for Internet access and freedom, both of which few North Koreans enjoy, although it’s not clear whether he will push this agenda in Pyongyang.

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