Small American flags have been placed in the trees in front of the Warmbier family home on Friday, Jan. 22, in Wyoming, Ohio.
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North Korea said Friday that it has arrested a U.S college student for allegedly conducting hostile acts against the North’s regime.
According to the Associated Press, North Korea says it has a University of Virginia student in custody.
The North’s state-run KCNA news agency said the person entered North Korea as a tourist and was “was caught committing a hostile act against the state” which it said was “tolerated and manipulated by the US government”.
The one-sentence dispatch did not provide details on how and when the student was arrested.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican campaigning in New Hampshire as a USA presidential candidate, called the arrest “inexcusable”.
“Sweden is the protecting power for the U.S.in North Korea”.
Otto Frederick Warmbier, 21, of the University of Virginia, was in North Korea for a five-day New Year trip and was detained at Pyongyang airport on January 2 ahead of a flight back to China, said Gareth Johnson of Young Pioneer Tours, which organized the visit.
U.Va. spokesman Anthony P.de Bruyn said the university has been in touch with Warmbier’s family, but declined to comment further or say whether he was in the region during winter break on a university-affiliated program.
“He’s an incredible guy”, added Miles Kirwin, who said he was a Theta Chi fraternity brother.
An attorney who represented Fowle in 2014 advised caution for those involved with the student. But US 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.
Fowle said on Friday he was “surprised and disheartened” to learn of Warmbier’s detainment. He says he’s considering reaching out to Warmbier’s relatives.
“I think everybody was honest with each other, and I think the North Korean ambassador and I had very good conversations and I had a pretty good relationship with him”, he said. “It’s just emotional and mental stress that everybody’s going through is the big thing to worry about”. Warmbier is from the Cincinnati area, and Fowle lives about 40 miles north in Miamisburg. Some foreigners previously arrested have read statements of guilt they later said were coerced.
If confirmed, the student would be the third Western citizen held in North Korea.
It comes as the US State Department investigates reports of another US citizen being held by the secretive state.
“Travel by USA citizens to North Korea is not routine, and US citizens have been subject to arrest and long-term detention for actions that would not be cause for arrest in the United States or other countries”, according to the State Department’s site.
Hall said the United States has little leverage with North Korea.
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The six-party talks, involving the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russ-ia and China, began in 2003 as an effort to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme in exchange for aid.
