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North Korea on Wednesday sentenced an
American student, who had admitted to stealing propaganda material, to 15 years hard labour for crimes against the state,
China's official
Xinhua news agency reported. The sentence was handed down on
Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old student from the
University of Virginia, by North Korea's
Supreme Court,
Xinhua said in a brief dispatch datelined
Pyongyang. There was no immediate confirmation by
North Korean state media of the sentence, which appeared to come just hours after veteran
US diplomat Bill Richardson reportedly met with two diplomats from North Korea's UN office to press for Warmbier's release. Warmbier was arrested in early January as he was leaving the country. He later said he had removed a political banner from the staff-only area of the Pyongyang hotel being used by his tour group. His detention came at a sensitive time, as the
United States took a leading role in securing the tough sanctions that the
UN Security Council imposed earlier this month on North Korea over its nuclear test on January 6 and long-range rocket launch a month later. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has maintained a daily barrage of nuclear strike threats against both
Seoul and
Washington, ostensibly over ongoing, large-scale
South Korea-US military drills that the
North sees as provocative rehearsals for invasion. Warmbier had entered North Korea as part of a
New Year tour organised by China-based
Young Pioneer Tours. He was arrested when the group was set to return to
Beijing on January 2.
The United States has no diplomatic or consular relations with the North, and the
Swedish embassy in Pyongyang provides limited consular services to US citizens detained there. Warmbier is one of three
North Americans currently detained in North Korea, which recently sentenced a 60-year-old
Canadian pastor to life imprisonment with hard labour on sedition charges
. In the past, North Korea has used the detention of US citizens to obtain high-profile visits from the likes of former
US president Bill Clinton in order to secure their release.
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- published: 16 Mar 2016
- views: 6