Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, has been detained in the North since January 2 for stealing a political sign that had promoted “the Korean people’s love for their system” from the hotel, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
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“I committed the crime of taking out a political slogan from the staff-only area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel”, state media quoted Warmbier as telling foreign and domestic media in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Monday.
The U.S. government, which does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea and is instead represented there by the Swedish embassy, advises Americans against travel to North Korea, partly because of the risk of detention.
The other two are Hyeon Soo Lim, a Korean-Canadian pastor sentenced to life in prison, and South Korean-American citizen Kim Dong Chul.
Otto Warmbier, 21, a University of Virginia student, was detained before boarding his flight to China over an unspecified incident at his hotel, his tour agency told Reuters in January.
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Warmbier is also seen in the video sobbing and pleading for forgiveness, and bowing deeply to apologize. The university had no comment about the North Korea saga but confirmed that they were in immediate contact with the Warmbier family.
Warmbier said his family’s “very severe financial difficulties” made him do it. “I started to consider this as my only golden opportunity to earn money”, he said, adding that his family would not be paid if he mentioned the church’s involvement.
Warmbier said a “deaconess” had offered him a used vehicle worth $10,000 if he could present a U.S. church with the slogan as a “trophy” from North Korea, according to KCNA.
“I don’t have any comment at this time”, he told The Associated Press.
Isolated North Korea is expected to face a tough new U.N. Security Council resolution tightening sanctions against it following its nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch this month.
KCNA also reported that Warmbier was encouraged by the secretive “Z Society” at the University of Virginia to steal the propaganda slogan after promising him that he would be a member of the group.
“Despite what you may hear, North Korea is probably one of the safest places on Earth to visit”, it says on its website.
In the past, North Korea has held out until senior US 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.
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In September 2014, CNN was granted a surprise interview with Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle in Pyongyang after they were detained, along with Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae.
