The United States has urged North Korea to separate political rhetoric from the detention of a U.S. citizen by Pyongyang.

The State Department’s acting deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, told reporters Thursday that the U.S. has urged the North Korean Government to release Aijalon Mahli Gomes on humanitarian grounds.

Toner also said that while Gomes remains detained in the North, the U.S. expects authorities to treat him in a humane manner consistent with international human rights law.

Gomes was detained by North Korea in January on the charge of illegally entering the communist state and was sentenced on April 6th to eight years of hard labor and fined 700-thousand dollars.

Toner’s statement came as the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said Pyongyang is considering the application of wartime laws in handling the Gomes case.

The report said the North regards the current situation on the Korean Peninsula as close to full-scale war in the wake of Seoul’s stern measures against the North for its sinking of the Cheonan naval ship. As a result, the report said Pyongyang plans to address all related issues in line with wartime laws.