North Korea sentences U.S. tourist to 15 years in prison
ASSOCIATED PRESS
American student Otto Warmbier speaks as he is presented to reporters in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea’s highest court on Wednesday, March 16, 2016, sentenced Warmbier, who allegedly attempted to steal a propaganda banner from a restricted area of his hotel, to 15 years of hard labor in prison.
PYONGYANG, North Korea >> North Korea’s highest court sentenced an American tourist to 15 years in prison with hard labor on Wednesday for subversion.
Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia undergraduate, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial in North Korea’s Supreme Court.
He was charged with subversion under Article 60 of North Korea’s criminal code. The court held that he had committed a crime “pursuant to the U.S. government’s hostile policy toward (the North), in a bid to impair the unity of its people after entering it as a tourist.”
Before the trial, the 21-year-old from Wyoming, Ohio, said he had tried to steal a propaganda banner as a trophy for an acquaintance who wanted to hang it in her church. That would be grounds in North Korea for a subversion charge.
Trials for foreigners facing similar charges in North Korea are generally short and punishments severe. Warmbier was arrested as he tried to leave the country in early January. He was in North Korea with a New Year’s tour group.
U.S. tourism to North Korea is legal. Arrests of tourists are rare but the U.S. State Department strongly advises against it.
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North Korea announced Warmbier’s arrest in late January, saying he committed an anti-state crime with “the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation.” It remains unclear how the U.S. government was allegedly connected to Warmbier’s actions.
Warmbier had been staying at the Yanggakdo International Hotel. It is common for sections of tourist hotels to be reserved for North Korean staff and off-limits to foreigners.
In a tearful statement made before his trial, Warmbier told a gathering of reporters in Pyongyang he tried to take the banner as a trophy for the mother of a friend who said she wanted to put it up in her church.
He said he was offered a used car worth $10,000 if he could get a banner and was also told that if he was detained and didn’t return, $200,000 would be paid to his mother in the form of a charitable donation.
Warmbier said he accepted the offer because his family was “suffering from very severe financial difficulties.”
Warmbier also said he had been encouraged by the university’s “Z Society,” which he said he was trying to join. The magazine of the university’s alumni association describes the Z Society as a “semi-secret ring society” founded in 1892 that conducts philanthropy, puts on honorary dinners and grants academic awards.
In previous cases, people who have been detained in North Korea and made a public confession often recant those statements after their release.
North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spies to overthrow its government to enable the U.S.-backed South Korean government to take control of the Korean Peninsula.
Tensions are particularly high following North Korea’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch, and massive joint military exercises now underway between the U.S. and South Korea that the North sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.
Further complicating matters, Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations. The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang acts as a go-between in consular issues when U.S. citizens run afoul of North Korean authorities.
In the past, North Korea has held out until senior U.S. officials or statesmen came to personally bail out detainees, all the way up to former President Bill Clinton, whose visit in 2009 secured the freedom of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
In November 2014, U.S. spy chief James Clapper went to Pyongyang to bring home Matthew Miller, who had ripped up his visa when entering the country, and Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae, who had been incarcerated since November 2012.
Jeffrey Fowle, another U.S. tourist from Ohio detained for six months at about the same time as Miller, was released just before that and sent home on a U.S. government plane.
Fowle left a Bible in a local club hoping a North Korean would find it, which is considered a criminal offense in North Korea.
23 responses to “North Korea sentences U.S. tourist to 15 years in prison”
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That church and its members should be ashamed of themselves. It was outrageous of them to ask him to steal that banner and even more outrageous for wanting to hang the banner in the church. They must now be feeling like total idi*ots as this poor guy has 15 years of hard labor in his future.
agree but this guy may be psychologically disturbed. Odd that UVA is a very excellent university. Hard to know how a guy like this got in.
He was warned not to go to North Korea and then broke the law. Let him stay there.
I can’t understand why any “tourist” would want to go to North Korea. It’s asking for trouble. How sad.
Does any country have diplomatic relations with North Korea?
Per Wikipedia: As of 2012, North Korea had diplomatic relations with 162 countries, as well as the European Union and the Palestinian Authority, and embassies in 42 countries.[132] North Korea continues to have strong ties with its socialist southeast Asian allies in Vietnam and Laos, as well as with Cambodia.[134] Most of the foreign embassies to North Korea are located in Beijing rather than in Pyongyang.[135] The Korean Demilitarized Zone with South Korea is the most heavily fortified border in the world.[136]
So why has not the USA pursued diplomatic relations with North Korea?
Good question, because all of this tension, the most between any two countries in the world, the USA and North Korea, and an eventual peace between North Korea and South Korea, could be accelerated to peaceful conclusion, just from having a diplomatic relation with North Korea.
That’s hilarious that you answer your own question in a different post. If you have to ask why the US doesn’t have diplomatic relations with NK, I’m not sure giving you the answer will help.
The Korean War in the 50’s was a proxy war between the US and China. North Korea really exists today only to provide a buffer between 30,000 US troops and China. They provide NK with assistance to prevent a collapse of their economy and government. The last thing China wants is a reunified Korea with US troops on their border. It’s the same reason why Russia doesn’t want a US missile defense system built in Poland. -The attack could arrive before they knew it was coming.
Now that he’s been sentenced, I wonder how close his mother is to receiving the $200,000 “charitable donation?” Yes, he was stupid, but it would be a darn shame if he was misled or outright lied to as well.
Not to close. He didn’t bring the banner back.
I feel sorry for the parents
Just more pandering by NK. Send a few containers loaded with Kobe steak patties and booze to Kim and he’ll be set free. Of course, taxpayer money should not fund this, this fool deserves what he got.
Something does not add up with his B S cover story. According to Otto, it would be a good thing for him to be sent to a North Korean prison because then his mother would get $200,000. Sounds more like he was acting on behalf of his Christian church to see if Christianity could be spread by making religious contacts in North Korea and if he should get caught he would give his ridiculous cover story.
agree..weird story
If that’s the case, he would have been better off graduating from college and working for his family. 15 years of income with a good college education would most certainly have been more than 200K.
Fifteen years is a bit harsh for stealing a banner, but the guy brought it on himself.
Good place to relocate occupants of our overcrowded prisons. NorKor famous for long time stays.
It is amazing just how many Americans have been arrested in North Korea for very foolish behavior. You would think that by now, people would get the message
that the North Korean government do not have a sense of humor. It is hard to have any sympathy for these fools who go there and get into trouble.
There’s one born every minute.
Obviously 15 years or any jail time is out of this world for what he did. But you have to admit it, the 21 year old is a complete and utter fool.
Learn to eat Kim chee.
Knowing that you will be in deep kim chee (pardon the expression) , why would anyone commit something as stupid as that especially in North Korea.
History is rife with Americans prosecuted for ridiculous “crimes” against the North Korean regime. Each time this happens, one wonders about the intellect and emotional stability of those who continue to tempt fate and travel to this totalitarian country, knowing full well their history of using Americans as pawns in their campaign of terror. The U.S. should institute a complete ban on Americans traveling to North Korea. Nothing good ever comes of such a trip, it seems.