Matthew Miller, the U.S. citizen imprisoned in North Korea on espionage charges, spent months in South Korea pretending to be an Englishman named "Preston Somerset," acquaintances who met or worked with him say.

The 25-year-old native of Bakersfield, California, did not seem to have close friends, a regular job or means of support during the months he spent in Seoul over a period of at least two years, they said. He gave no inkling of any interest in nuclear-capable and unpredictable North Korea.

Instead, he spent time and money hiring artists to help create his own anime adaptation of the Lewis Carroll fantasy "Alice in Wonderland," with which he seemed fascinated. At one point, he joined a debating class that helped Koreans converse in English, but rarely spoke.