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An American tourist held in North Korea is accused of trying to bring down the country's regime, according to the North's official news agency. The move comes as tensions grow on the Korean peninsula between the isolated North and the South's Western allies.

The symbol of rapprochement between the neighbors is the latest victim of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Last week, the The Orphan Master's Son was awarded the Pulitzer prize for fiction. Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin spoke with author Adam Johnson last year about his book. In that interview, Johnson explained that as part of his research he actually managed to finagle a visit to North Korea. He said his government minders maintained tight control over his itinerary, but they couldn't hide everything.

Pyongyang insists that sanctions be lifted and the U.S. and South Korea end joint military exercises.

Adam Johnson took the fiction prize for The Orphan Master's Son, his sharp take on life in the authoritarian regime under Kim Jong Il .

"The world media run headlines about the Korean peninsula being on the brink of war. Of course it's not on the brink of war, it's just [the] normal show," says Andrei Lankov, who has studied in the North and follows it closely from Kookmin University in Seoul.

Secretary of State John Kerry is asking China's government to help ease tensions on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea has issued threats of war as it tests its weapons systems. The top U.S. diplomat met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing two days before a North Korea-promised missile test.

Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Louisa Lim about Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to South Korea and the negotiating efforts to de-nuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

While condemning North Korea's recent rhetoric as "unacceptable," the secretary of state also said the U.S. wants to talk — if the North is serious about discussing denuclearization.

A Defense Intelligence Agency report suggests that North Korea has the ability to make nuclear weapons small enough to put on a missile. That does not necessarily mean that North Korea has the capacity to launch a nuclear attack.