North Korea says it will put two American citizens on trial for crimes against the state.  It pretty much dims any hopes that the families of Jeffrey Fowle and Matthew Miller had for getting the two men released and back home anytime soon.

“Their hostile acts were confirmed by evidence and their own testimonies,” said the official North Korean state-run news agency KCNA. 

56-year old Jeffrey Fowle is a street repairs worker from Ohio.  He was arrested earlier this month for leaving a bible in his hotel room.  24-year-old Matthew Todd Miller’s story is a bit more bizarre.  North Korea customs officials detained him for “rash behavior” at customs at the Pyongyang airport in April, after he tore up his tourist visa and demanded asylum.

The families of the two men have reason to be worried.  Another American missionary named Kenneth Bae was arrested in November 2012, convicted, and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

This all comes a few months after North Korea arrested and deported an elderly Australian man for leaving Christian literature at a tourist site.  75-year old John Short apologized and admitted to violated North Korean law.