The Wall Street Journal reported that North Korea released a report informing the arrest of a U.S student for perpetrating an undetermined “hostile act”.
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Warmbier entered the country “for the goal of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity at the tacit connivance of the USA government”, the report said.
The U.S. State Department said it could not confirm the CNN report.
Republican presidential candidate John Kasich (KAY’-sik) said in a message on his Twitter account that the student should be “released & returned immediately”.
“Sweden is the protecting power for the United States in North Korea”. But U.S. and South Korean officials responded coolly to the overture, saying they first wanted to see North Korea taking some concrete actions and showing how serious it is about disarmament before the talks can resume.
North Korea claims to have arrested a United States student on suspicion of carrying out “hostile activities”. “You have to be careful in a way that we wouldn’t think of as normal”. Matthew Miller, a tourist who ripped up his visa upon arrival in Pyongyang, and Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary, had both been serving multi-year sentences in North Korean labor camps.
North Korea would likely respond angrily to any such meeting, and it is unlikely China, the North’s last major ally and biggest aid provider, and Russian Federation, also a traditional ally, would quickly embrace Park’s proposal.
In a show of strength earlier this month, a nuclear-capable US B-52 bomber – flanked by South Korean F-15 fighter jets and US F-16 planes – flew a mission just south of the inter-Korea border. The University of Virginia’s online student directory lists someone named Otto Frederick Warmbier as an undergraduate commerce student. The man, identified as Kim Dong Chul, was held by Pyongyang government and authorities accused him of being involved in spying and stealing state secrets, according to CNN.
Only the 15-member Security Council can refer the situation in North Korea to the ICC, but diplomats say China, North Korea’s main benefactor, would likely veto such a move.
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China urged all relevant countries on Friday to make joint efforts to resume long-stalled nuclear talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear programs as South Korea floated the idea of holding talks without North Korea.
