'I dig fields for 8 hours a day’: US man jailed in North Korea describes hard labour

An American man recently sentenced by North Korea to six years of hard labour says he is digging in fields eight hours a day and being kept in isolation, but that so far his health hasn't deteriorated.

Under close guard and with only enough time to respond to one question, 24-year-old Matthew Miller spoke briefly to a journalist at a Pyongyang hotel, where he had been brought to make a phone call to his family. It was his first appearance since he was convicted on September 14 of entering the country illegally to commit espionage.

"Prison life is eight hours of work per day. Mostly it's been agriculture, like in the dirt, digging around," Miller said when asked what conditions were like in prison.

"Other than that, it's isolation, no contact with anyone. But I have been in good health, and no sickness or no hurts," he said, showing little emotion.

Wearing a prison-style grey uniform and cap, Miller was filmed sitting down at a phone booth at the hotel and pressing the buttons on a phone while a North Korean guard stood behind him. Officials said Miller spoke to his father, but the journalist was not allowed to hear the conversation. Miller does not have routine access to phone calls home.

The Bakersfield, California, native showed several letters he had written seeking help from influential Americans, including first lady Michelle Obama, US Secretary of State John Kerry and former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Miller then enclosed them in a letter he sent to his family from the hotel.