US tells North Korea to separate politics from case of detained American

US: NKorea shouldn’t threaten detained American

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is telling North Korea not to link the case of a detained American with efforts to censure the communist nation for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

The State Department said Thursday that North Korea should “separate political rhetoric from this matter concerning a private American citizen.” The call came after North Korea, citing hostile U.S. policy, threatened to increase punishment for Aijalon Mahli Gome.

North Korea has ruled out Gomes’ release amid tension over the ship sinking. The U.S. says Gomes should be released on humanitarian grounds. Gomes, who is from Boston, was sentenced in April to eight years of hard labor and fined $700,000 for entering the country illegally and an unspecified “hostile act.”