WASHINGTON (AP) _ The State Department says four U.S. officials visited an imprisoned American in North Korea last week, but failed to win his release.

Spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Monday that a consular official, two doctors and a translator were in Pyongyang to see Aijalon Mahli Gomes.

Gomes was sentenced in April to eight years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea.

He’s described by friends as a devout Christian who attended rallies in Seoul in support of Robert Park, a fellow Christian from the U.S. who entered North Korea in December to call attention to the nation’s human rights abuses. Park was released in February without charges.

Crowley says the United States continues to press for Gomes’ release because of health worries. He would not provide details, but North Korea said last month that Gomes had attempted suicide.