The American jailed in North Korea for leaving a Bible in a hotel room spoke of his experiences for the first time at the weekend.

Jeffrey Fowle, 56, was one of three Americans held there. He told NBC News that he wanted to help 'underground' Christians in the country, which is ideologically opposed to religion and clamps down at any attempt to proselytise.

Fowle was arrested in May for leaving a Bible at a sailors' club in the city of Chongjin, where he was travelling as a tourist.

"It was a risk I was willing to assume at that time," he said. "I was so motivated by the stories of the underground Christians that I felt compelled to help them."

He said that he was well treated during his imprisonment, spending his first month in captivity at the Yanggakdo International Hotel, which is designated for foreign guests and is located on an island in central Pyongyang.

"Throughout the whole process I was treated fairly well. I was never physically abused," he said, adding: "I usually had too much to eat."

Fowle told CBS news that he went to visit the country because he was intrigued by it. "Just the fact that it's a closed country," he said. "I want to see what makes it tick, what the people are like."

He said that leaving the Bible was "an intentional act" but added: "I wouldn't do it again, but at the time I felt like I had to do it. I was doing what I thought God wanted me to do."

According to a UN report, between 200,000 and 400,000 of North Korea's 24 million population are Christians, though the number cannot be established accurately because Christians are forbidden from worshipping openly.

The country suffers from severe food shortages caused by the mismanagement of its agricultural sector and regularly tops lists of the world's most repressive countries. Conditions in its prison camps are reported to be inhuman, with widespread torture and starvation.

Two other US citizens are currently being held in North Korea. Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary, was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 15 years hard labour. Matthew Miller, held since April and charged with "hostile acts", received six years.