North Korea Detains U.S. Student North Korea says Otto Frederick Warmbier was detained for committing a ‘hostile act’ By Alastair Gale
http://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-says-it-has-detained-a-u-s-student-1453451721
North Korea said Friday it was holding a U.S. student for committing an unspecified “hostile act,” the latest in a series of detained American tourists and missionaries that Pyongyang has at times used to try to win diplomatic leverage with Washington.
Otto Frederick Warmbier, an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia, was accused of being manipulated by the U.S. government, according to a brief report from the Korean Central News Agency. The report provided no details of Mr. Warmbier’s actions other than to allege that he entered the country “for the purpose of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity.”
Mr. Warmbier was detained in Pyongyang on Jan. 2, according to Troy Collins of Young Pioneer Tours, the tour company that took him to North Korea. Mr. Collins declined to provide further details but said Mr. Warmbier’s family had been informed of his detention.
Young Pioneer Tours said in a statement that it was in contact with the U.S. State Department and Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which represents U.S. interested in North Korea. The U.S. and North Korea have no formal diplomatic ties.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Seoul said the embassy was aware of the reported detention of Mr. Warmbier.
Mr. Warmbier’s detention comes as the U.S. seeks new sanctions at the United Nations on North Korea following its latest nuclear test on Jan. 6. Pyongyang has called its bomb test a necessary measure for self-defense and repeated its desire for the U.S. to offer a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.
The U.S. says North Korea should first abide by its previous commitments to denuclearize.
Pyongyang has in the past used detainees to try to initiate diplomatic exchanges with Washington. In 2014, North Korea called for a high-level U.S. delegation to come and discuss the release of two Americans then under detention.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper flew to Pyongyang, where he said North Korean officials made clear they expected to hold talks about state-to-state relations. Mr. Clapper declined but returned with the two American prisoners.
One of them was Matthew Todd Miller, a tourist who was arrested in April 2014 after ripping up his visa upon arrival in Pyongyang. He was sentenced to six years of hard labor by a local court. The other prisoner was a Korean-American missionary who had been detained in North Korea for more than two years.
Thousands of tourists visit North Korea each year. Most are Chinese, but several hundred Westerners also visit the country.
Before the latest detention there were believed to be two citizens from Western countries held in North Korea.
A Canadian pastor was arrested in North Korea last year and sentenced to life in prison with hard labor for alleged antistate activities. Earlier in January, CNN interviewed an ethnic-Korean man in North Korea whom it described as a U.S. citizen.
The State Department strongly recommends all U.S. citizens avoid travel to North Korea.
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