The student, Otto Warmbier, acknowledged and apologized in a conference attended by the media and some members of the diplomatic community on Monday for stealing a political slogan from a staff-only section of the hotel where he had been staying.
Advertisement
Mr Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia student, had been on a tourist trip to North Korea in January.
When University of Virginia student Otto Frederick Warmbier was first accused of trying to steal the North Korean banner from his hotel in January, state-run media said he did so under the American government’s influence.
In the past, North Korea has held out until senior USA officials or statesmen came to personally bail out detainees, all the way up to former President Bill Clinton, whose visit in 2009 secured the freedom of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Both had crossed North Korea’s border from China illegally.
“My reward for my crime was so much smaller than the rewards that the Z Society and the Friendship United Methodist Church get from the United States Administration”, the student continued.
CNN, which said it had a copy of a video of the press conference, said that Warmbier sobbed and pleaded for forgiveness. “So he couldn’t take it away and turned it upside down and deserted (it) on the floor when he had pulled it from the hangers”, the official said.
The officials also claim Warmbier had ties to Z Society, a secretive philanthropic organization at UVA that paints “Z” around university grounds and has links to the Central Intelligence Agency.
Warmbier had entered North Korea as part of a New Year tour organized by China-based Young Pioneer Tours.
Mr Warmbier said an acquaintance who belonged to a church had offered him a used auto worth $10,000 if he could present the church with the slogan as a “trophy” from North Korea, according to the agency.
The US government strongly recommends against all travel by its citizens to North Korea.
The university had no comment about the North Korea saga but confirmed that they were in immediate contact with the Warmbier family.
As Warmbier was about to board the plane from Pyongyang, he was detained by North Korean authorities, witnesses said.
‘When we were leaving one of the other tour group’s [the Young Pioneers] tour leader said “We’re missing Otto,”‘ the student, who was only identified as Darragh, told the Independent.
Advertisement
US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power sanctions-9009/”>submitted a draft resolution of the sanctions to the UN Security Council last week. The U.S. Department of State has a travel warning in place for its nationals wanting to visit North Korea.
