UPDATE MAY 02, 10:52AM ET: NK NEWS has learned that President Jimmy Carter told colleagues today, “I have had no invitation to visit North Korea and therefore have no plans to go.”

SEOUL – Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American currently being detained by North Korean authorities, has been sentenced to 15 years of “hard labor,” the KCNA reported this morning.

Bae is the owner of China-based tour company Nations Tours, NK News exclusively revealed at the time, and was arrested while on a five-day trip with other tourists in the Northeastern port city of Rajin. Rajin and Songbon are known