U.S. citizen Matthew Todd Miller is pictured during his trial at the North Korean Supreme Court in Pyongyang September 14, 2014, in this photo released by Kyodo. 
 
 U.S. citizen Matthew Todd Miller (2nd R) sits in a witness box during his trial at the North Korean Supreme Court in Pyongyang September 14, 2014, in this photo released by Kyodo. 
 
 U.S. citizen Matthew Todd Miller sits in a witness box during his trial at the North Korean Supreme Court in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang September 14, 2014. 
 
 SEOUL Matthew Miller, the U.S. citizen imprisoned in North Korea on espionage charges, spent months in South Korea pretending to be an Englishman named "Preston Somerset", acquaintances who met or worked with him said. 
 
 The 25-year-old native of Bakersfield, California, did not seem to have close friends, a regular job or means of support during the months he spent in Seoul over a period of at least two years, they said. He gave no inkling of any interest in nuclear-capable and unpredictable North Korea. 
 
 Instead, he spent time and money hiring artists to help create his own anime adaption of Alice in Wonderland, the Lewis Carroll fantasy with which he seemed fascinated. At one point he joined a debating class that helped Koreans converse in English, but rarely spoke. 
 
 "He was just a mysterious character. He said nothing unless I asked questions," said Hur Sung-doh, who organized the weekly group debate. 
 
 Miller was arrested in North Korea in April this year for tearing up his tourist visa after entering the isolated country with a tour group. He was sentenced to six years hard labor last week. 
 
 Reclusive North Korea is a magnet for adventurous foreigners, whether Christian missionaries, curious tourists or individuals drawn to the world's most isolated nation. 
 
 One of the last outposts of the Cold War, North Korea is open to but suspicious of Western visitors and any out-of-the-ordinary behavior by tourists is quickly investigated. 
 
 The U.S. government advises its citizens against travel to North Korea. 
 
 U.S. missionary Kenneth Bae is serving a hard labor sentence in North Korea after being convicted of crimes against the state. Another American, Jeffrey Fowle, was arrested for leaving a Bible in the toilet of a sailor's club in the northeastern port city of Chongjin, and is currently awaiting trial. 
 
 On Tuesday, South Korean marines arrested an American man who had been swimming in a river that flows towards North Korea and said he had been trying to go to the North to meet its leader, Kim Jong Un, Korean media reported. 
 
 Miller exhibited some unusual behavior in Seoul, but nothing linked to North Korea, his acquaintances said. 
 
 To Hur, the English-language teacher, he wrote in 2012 in response to an advertisement: "My name is Preston and I have been in Seoul for about 6 months. I am a student from London and saw (your) post." 
 
 Hur said of Miller: "He said he studied journalism and was engaged in newspaper publishing, although I am not sure if he really did that job." 
 
 "READY TO BOLT" 
 
 In a televised interview with CNN last month, Miller spoke with a slight British accent and refused to answer questions on his motivations to travel to North Korea.Miller's family has not spoken publicly about him and neither have any neighbors or friends he may have had in the United States. Those who met him in South Korea only recalled a slightly odd, quiet young man who gave little away. 
 
 "It was very curt and very awkward, speaking to him," said Mike Stewart, a Seoul-based artist's studio director who met Miller last year, when he received an e-mail from "Preston Somerset", which Miller later said was a pen name. 
 
 "He seemed very birdy, like ready to bolt at any minute, like he didn’t know what to say and things like that." 
 
 Miller inspected space Stewart was leasing to local artists and paid hundreds of dollars to rent a studio, but never returned. 
 
 "He gave me a good chunk of change – and then I never saw him again," said Stewart, who runs the Jankura Art Space in which Miller had planned to exhibit work from an artist he had commissioned to help create his own spin-off of Alice in Wonderland. 
 
 Francis Cole - an American who produces Japanese-style erotic art - said on a freelancing website that he was one of several artists, writers and musicians Miller commissioned to help produce his own Alice in Wonderland-inspired fantasy tale in the style of a Japanese anime. 
 
 Miller, under his Preston Somerset alias, and Cole, with the username 'Eirhjien', were members of the deviantArt.com community where people can post and share user-made artwork. 
 
 He recruited a gaming programer to produce music for him, artists to draw men dressed as Cheshire Cats, and a ghostwriter to help piece the whole thing, named "Alice in Red", together, according to posts on the deviantArt website. 
 
 "I vividly remember that he wanted it to have an Alice in Wonderland-like feel," one of the ghostwriters, who was paid $200 to write for Miller, told Reuters via e-mail. 
 
 Miller identifies himself as Preston Somerset on several social media websites and cites steampunk, a genre of science fiction, and the Japanese vocal synthesized "humanoid" Hatsune Miku as some of his interests. He lists British writer George Orwell and Irish poet Oscar Wilde as two of his favorite writers. 
 
 It is still not clear what happened in the months between Miller's quest to self-publish his own version of Alice in Wonderland, and his decision to go to North Korea. 
 
 Photographs from Miller's trial in Pyongyang showed a page from his notebook that said he had been "involved" in WikiLeaks and had attempted to access files from U.S. military bases in South Korea. Another page appeared to show a list of places in which Miller had spent time over the years - including London. 
 
 The Japan-based Choson Sinbo newspaper, which is loyal to Pyongyang and attended Miller's trial, said he told the court he lived in Seoul, and that he was unemployed. 
 
 The paper said Miller had promised North Korean authorities he could reveal U.S. state secrets "as if he was Edward Snowden". 
 
 (This story has been refiled to correct name of city to Chongjin from Pyongyang, paragraph nine, edits) 
 
 (Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan) ||||| U.S. citizen Matthew Todd Miller sits in a witness box during his trial at the North Korean Supreme Court in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang September 14, 2014. 
 
 SEOUL An American recently sentenced to six years hard labor by a North Korean court pretended to have secret U.S. information and was deliberately arrested in a bid to become famous and meet U.S. missionary Kenneth Bae in a North Korean prison, state media said on Saturday. 
 
 Matthew Miller, 25, of Bakersfield, California, had prepared his story in advance and written in a notebook that he was seeking refuge after failing in an attempt to collect information about the U.S. government, state media said. 
 
 "He perpetrated the above-said acts in the hope of becoming a 'world famous guy' and the 'second Snowden' through intentional hooliganism," KCNA said, referring to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, wanted by the United States for leaking secrets of its surveillance programs. 
 
 "This is an intolerable insult and mockery of the DPRK and he therefore, deserved punishment," KCNA said, using the North's official DPRK acronym. 
 
 Miller was arrested when he tore up the tourist visa he used to enter the isolated country in April, state media said at the time. He was sentenced to six years hard labor by a North Korean court last Sunday. 
 
 "The results of the investigation made it clear that he did so not because of a simple lack of understanding and psychopathology, but deliberately perpetrated such criminal acts for the purpose of directly going to prison," state media said. 
 
 Miller's case was exacerbated by the fact his actions followed "reckless remarks" by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that described reclusive North Korea as a "country of evil," state media said. 
 
 Kerry in February criticized North Korea as an "evil place" following the publication of an extensive human rights report by United Nations investigators who said North Korean security officials should be tried for crimes related to the systematic starvation, torture and imprisonment of North Koreans. 
 
 DELIBERATELY SOUGHT ARREST 
 
 State media said Miller had deliberately sought his arrest so he could investigate North Korean prison and human rights conditions, and meet with and negotiate the release of U.S. missionary Bae, who is serving a hard labor sentence after being convicted of crimes against the state last year. 
 
 Unlike the two other Americans held in Pyongyang, relatively little is known about Miller and his family has not spoken publicly about him. 
 
 Reuters reported this week that he spent months in South Korea pretending to be an Englishman named "Preston Somerset" and invested time and money hiring artists to help create his own anime adaption of Alice in Wonderland, the Lewis Carroll fantasy with which he seemed fascinated, according to acquaintances. 
 
 He did not seem to have close friends, a regular job or means of support during the months he spent in Seoul over a period of at least two years, they said. He gave no inkling of any interest in nuclear-capable and unpredictable North Korea. 
 
 He is one of three U.S. citizens now being held by North Korea. A third American, Jeffrey Fowle, was arrested for leaving a Bible in the toilet of a sailor's club in the port city of Chongjin and is currently awaiting trial. 
 
 The United States has said Pyongyang is using its citizens as "pawns" to win a high-level visit from Washington, which has repeatedly offered to send special envoy for North Korean Human Rights Robert King to negotiate the release of Miller, Bae and Fowle. 
 
 North Korea has so far rejected those offers. 
 
 (Reporting by James Pearson; Editing by Tony Munroe and Lisa Shumaker) ||||| Story highlights State media: Matthew Todd Miller wanted to become "a world famous guy" 
 
 After his arrival, he tore his visa, it says 
 
 He also shouted his desire to seek asylum, according to state-run KCNA 
 
 An American sentenced in North Korea ripped up his visa so he could go to prison and expose human rights violations there, state media said Saturday. 
 
 Saturday's report in the state-run Korean Central News Agency boldly heaped blame on Miller, claiming his acts were a preconceived plan to gain notoriety. 
 
 The 24-year-old from Bakersfield, California, arrived in North Korea as a tourist in April. 
 
 After his arrival, he tore his visa at Pyongyang's airport and shouted his desire to seek asylum, according to KCNA. 
 
 'Rudely behaved' 
 
 State media described him as "rudely behaved," saying he was sent to infiltrate prison as part of a United States campaign against North Korea. 
 
 "He perpetrated the above-said acts in the hope of becoming a world famous guy and the second Snowden through intentional hooliganism," state media said. 
 
 Edward Snowden got asylum from Russia, where he fled last year after leaking classified U.S. government documents. 
 
 Once sentenced, Miller hoped to meet Kenneth Bae, another American detained in North Korea. 
 
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 He planned to secure Bae's release so both can serve as "witnesses" to the human rights violations in the nation, state media said. 
 
 "The crime committed by Miller Matthew Todd was prompted by his sinister political aim to deliberately slander the DPRK," it said. 
 
 DPRK refers to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Its government is a communist dictatorship renowned for human rights abuses. 
 
 Washington demands release 
 
 The U.S. State Department has demanded that North Korea release Miller and Bae, and American Jeffrey Fowle. 
 
 Fowle, 56, was arrested in June while traveling as a tourist. 
 
 Bae, who was detained in 2012, has been accused of planning to bring down the government through religious activities. He was moved from a hospital to a labor camp. 
 
 Miller talks to CNN 
 
 Earlier this month, Miller told CNN's Will Ripley that he "prepared to violate the law of DPRK before coming here. And I deliberately committed my crime." 
 
 But Miller didn't elaborate on what his "crime" was. He said he wouldn't learn of his charges until he went to trial. 
 
 It's unclear whether his statements were made freely or under coercion. 
 
 First stop was South Korea 
 
 Miller's family lives in Bakersfield, and he is a 2008 graduate of Bakersfield High School, according to CNN affiliate KBAK 
 
 In a July interview, a neighbor told The Associated Press that Miller went to South Korea about four years ago to visit his brother and started teaching English. 
 
 He traveled to North Korea this year after arranging a private tour through the U.S.-based company Uri Tours, which takes tourists into North Korea. 
 
 Uri Tours has said it doesn't have "any understanding of why" Miller ripped up his visa. 
 
 The company offers tours despite U.S. State Department warnings about arbitrary arrest and detention in North Korea.
– North Korea today piled more accusations upon a 25-year-old American arrested there and sentenced to six years' hard labor. The state-run Korean Central News Agency says Matthew Miller entered the country on a tourist visa from South Korea and deliberately got himself arrested by tearing up his visa in order to become famous, reports CNN. The North says Miller claimed to be seeking asylum because he had attempted and failed to collect secrets about the US government, reports Reuters. "He perpetrated the above-said acts in the hope of becoming a 'world famous guy' and the 'second Snowden' through intentional hooliganism," says the KCNA, referring to Edward Snowden. Pyongyang also thinks that Miller wanted to infiltrate the prison system to investigate human rights conditions and to try to negotiate the release of American prisoner Kenneth Bae. Not much is known about Miller, who graduated from California's Bakersfield High School in 2008. In an earlier, bizarre story, Reuters reported that he had been in South Korea for several months prior to traveling to the North "pretending to be an Englishman named 'Preston Somerset.'" He had reportedly been trying to line up artists to adapt Alice in Wonderland in anime form.