PYONGYANG, Korea, Democratic People’s Republic Of – North Korea has presented a detained American student before media in Pyongyang.
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North Korea has allowed the world to get its first glimpse of Otto Warmbier since his arrested earlier this year.
CNN, which received a copy of the video, said he sobbed as he begged for forgiveness, saying he had made “the worst mistake of my life”.
Warmbier is accused trying to steal a North Korean political slogan that was hanging from the walls of his Pyongyang hotel. The church member also allegedly said the church would pay his mother $200,000 if he was held by Pyongyang and did not return, according to the agency. “This was a very foolish aim”, he was quoted as saying.
Former detainees often recant such admissions after their release.
Political slogans, extolling the achievements of the country and its leaders and encouraging citizens to work harder and demonstrate their loyalty, are all-pervasive in North Korea. He entered North Korea as a tourist in late December, KCNA said. Other Westerners detained in North Korea have previously confessed to crimes against the state.
In a further series of freakish allegations North Korean officials said his act was influenced by a secretive university group called the Z Society.
Monday’s KCNA despatch did not clarify the precise charges Warmbier was facing, and gave no indication if he would be put on trial.
Warmbier’s family have not heard from him since his arrest, according to a statement provided to the Cavalier Daily, the University of Virginia’s student-run newspaper.
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He was arrested on 2 January as he was about to leave.
