The Voice of America says that an American man North Korea is holding for illegal entry is staging a hunger strike.

According to the U.S.-government broadcaster, the minister of state at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, David Howell, said in a parliamentary discussion on North Korea on Wednesday that Aijalon Gomes is staging a hunger strike.

But he did not elaborate on why the American detainee is staging the hunger strike or what response North Korean authorities have taken.

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.

The American reportedly attempted suicide early this month.

Howell also said that some North Korean escapees were repatriated to North Korea and sent to labor camps.

He added that he has regular meetings with Chinese officials to express concerns about security developments on the Korean Peninsula and North Korea’s human rights violations.