Seul: North Korea said on Friday it had detained a U.S. university student for committing a “hostile act” against the country and was investigating.
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It did not give further details, but said he was now under investigation.
This is not the first time North Korea has been seizing and detaining foreign nationals in the country over spurious allegations, and the country sometimes does this to levy demands on other countries in exchange for freeing the detained individual.
Warmbier is a third-year student studying commerce at the University of Virginia, according to The Cavalier Daily, the school’s student newspaper.
North Korea’s main ally, China, has repeatedly pushed for the talks’ resumption, but Park said the North’s 4th nuclear test on January 6 underlined Pyongyang’s rejection of denuclearization as a bargaining chip.
The detention comes at a sensitive time, with the United States taking a leading role in global efforts to secure tough sanctions on North Korea over its latest nuclear test.
A Canadian pastor was arrested in North Korea previous year and sentenced to life in prison with hard labor for alleged antistate activities.
“There will be significant benefits to Japan if we can get information from South Korea, which is geographically closer to North Korea and China”, a Japanese official said.
But some say sharing military intelligence with the US through the link would signal Seoul’s participation in Washington and Tokyo’s missile defense strategy in the region. North Korea has yet to comment on the report, and the U.S. State Department has said it could not confirm it.
After taking on Sony Pictures, using a stealth attack and essentially reputational blackmail to block widespread viewing of “The Interview”, a movie that depicts North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in a negative light, the government has a new target: an honors student at the University of Virginia.
In 2014, Pyongyang released three detained Americans. Critics say such trips have provided diplomatic credibility to the North.
The United States and North Korea are in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
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“South Korea should seek various and creative approaches such as attempting five-way talks that exclude North Korea as well as six-party talks”, Park said. Earlier this month, CNN reported a Korean-American man was being held on charges of spying.
