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North Korea said on Friday it had detained a US university student for committing a "hostile

act" against the country and was investigating.

The state-run KCNA news agency said the person entered North Korea as a tourist and was "was caught committing a hostile act against the state."

There were no further details on what the act was - but officials said it was "tolerated and manipulated by the US government".

Tensions have been running high between the two countries after Kim Jong-un reportedly tested a nuclear weapon earlier this month.

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The Korean-language KCNA report said the detainee was a Virginia university student and had entered the country with an "aim to destroy the country's unity".

It did not elaborate.

An official at the U.S. embassy in the South Korean capital Seoul said it was aware of the reported arrest.

A South Korean-born Canadian pastor was arrested in North Korea last year and given a life sentence for subversion.

Earlier this month, a Korean-American man told CNN in Pyongyang that he was being held by the state for spying.

South Korea warned that the United States and its allies were working on further sanctions to inflict "bone-numbing pain" on the North after its latest nuclear test this month.

The test was in contravention of UN Security Council resolutions and officials also urged China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbour.