North Korea detains US student for ‘hostile act’
Print Edition
NORTH Korea has detained a US university student for committing a “hostile act” and wanting to “destroy the country’s unity,” it said yesterday.
Otto Frederick Warmbier, 21, of the University of Virginia, had been in North Korea on a five-day trip when he was detained at Pyongyang airport on January 2 ahead of a flight back to China, said Gareth Johnson of Young Pioneer Tours, which organized the visit.
According to the North Korea’s official KCNA news agency, Warmbier entered North Korea as a tourist and “was caught committing a hostile act against the state,” which it said was “tolerated and manipulated by the US government.”
An official at the US embassy in the South Korean capital Seoul said it was aware of the reported arrest. The US State Department in Washington had no immediate comment.
Johnson said China-based Young Pioneer Tours was in contact with Warmbier’s family and US officials.
“We are in touch with Otto’s family, the US State Department and the embassy of Sweden in Pyongyang and doing all we can to secure his release,” Johnson said. The Swedish Embassy represents US interests in North Korea.
KCNA said Warmbier had entered the country with an “aim to destroy the country’s unity.”
According to his social media profiles, Warmbier is from Cincinnati and is an Echols Scholar, awarded to the top 7 percent of incoming first year students at the University of Virginia, where he majors in economics with a minor in global sustainability.
Warmbier has also visited Cuba, Ireland and Israel, according to his Facebook profile.
While the vast majority of tourists to North Korea are from China, roughly 6,000 Westerners visit the country each year.
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