U.Va. student held in North Korea ‘confesses’ to severe crimes
- 8 years ago
The University of Virginia student detained in North Korea confessed, in a highly orchestrated press conference Monday, to the “very severe and pre-planned” crime of trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel in Pyongyang.
Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old economics major, had not been seen since he was arrested at Pyongyang airport on Jan. 2, at the end of a five-day tour to North Korea.
But it wasn’t until three weeks later that Kim Jong Un’s regime announced it was holding the Ohio native for an unspecified “hostile act” against the state.
Escorted by North Korean guards into a press conference in Pyongyang on Monday, Warmbier, reading from hand-written notes, said that he had tried to steal a political sign promoting “the [North] Korean people’s love for their system” from the hotel, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old economics major, had not been seen since he was arrested at Pyongyang airport on Jan. 2, at the end of a five-day tour to North Korea.
But it wasn’t until three weeks later that Kim Jong Un’s regime announced it was holding the Ohio native for an unspecified “hostile act” against the state.
Escorted by North Korean guards into a press conference in Pyongyang on Monday, Warmbier, reading from hand-written notes, said that he had tried to steal a political sign promoting “the [North] Korean people’s love for their system” from the hotel, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.