N Korea says it has right to 'ruthlessly punish' captured American citizens

North Korea has said it has the right to "ruthlessly punish" American citizens it has detained for allleged crimes against the government.

The East Asian nation announced over the weekend that it had detained a fourth American, bring to four the number of US citizens it is holding.

Citing Nortk Korea's KCNA news agency, Reuters said the government had declared the crimes the Americans had been accused of would soon be announced. North Korea, or properly the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said it had detained Kim Hak Song, who worked for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, last Saturday. Officials in the Communist state said he had been held on suspicion of "hostile acts".

"A relevant institution of the DPRK detained American citizen Kim Hak Song on May 6 under a law of the DPRK on suspension of his hostile acts against it," KCNA said.

A third US citizen, Kim Sang Dok, who was associated with the same school, was detained in late April for alleged hostile acts, according to North's official media.

The US State Department said it was aware of the latest reported detention. "The security of US citizens is one of the department's highest priorities," said a spokesperson. "When a US citizen is reported to be detained in North Korea, we work with the Swedish embassy

in Pyongyang."