Alwaght- A US spy has been arrested in North Korea amid escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Speaking to CNN, the man identified himself as Kim Dong Chul, a naturalized American, who said he used to live in Fairfax, Virginia.
"I'm asking the U.S. or South Korean government to rescue me," Kim said during an interview at a hotel in the North Korean capital.
Kim said that in 2001 he moved to Yanji, a city near the Chinese-North Korean border that acts as a trade hub between the two countries.
From Yanji, Kim said he commuted daily to Rason, a special economic zone on the North Korean side of the border, where he served as president of a company involved in international trade and hotel services.
According to Kim, he spied on behalf of "South Korean conservative elements," for which he was arrested in October 2015.
"I was tasked with taking photos of military secrets and 'scandalous' scenes," he said.
Kim named a number of South Koreans he said "injected me with a hatred towards North Korea."
"They asked me to help destroy the (North Korean) system and spread propaganda against the government."
Meanwhile US troops stationed in South Korea have been put on the highest alert ever to deter “any provocation coming from North Korea,” following Pyongyang’s latest underground nuclear test.
The order was announced by Curtis Scaparrotti, the head of US military deployment in South Korea, who was visiting the Osan airbase, run by Washington and Seoul.
Scaparrotti was touring the base, which is 55 kilometers south of the capital Seoul, together with South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Lee Sun-jin.
Tensions in the Korean peninsula are running high after Pyongyang recently claimed to have tested a new Hydrogen bomb.
Pyongyang says developing a nuclear weapon was important in order to protect itself against US interference in North Korean affairs, and that the bomb can defend Pyongyang against any invasion.
North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the US was bringing the situation to the brink of war.
