American student Otto Warmbier has reportedly been released by North Korea.
Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in 2016 by North Korea’s high court. He was
Otto Warmer giving testimony last year at his trial for attempting to steal North Korean propaganda.
sentenced to hard labour.
The crime committed by the student was trying to steal a political banner. The North Korean high court held that his crime was “pursuant of 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”.
Warmbier travelled to North Korea as part of Young Pioneer Tours.
Warmbier is an undergraduate from the University of Virginia. He grew up in Ohio and graduated from Wyoming High School in 2013. He was convicted at the age of 21.
Rex Tillerson claimed today that the US Department of State negotiated the release of the American student.
While Warmbier may have been freed another American citizen was detained by North Korea last month.
Kim Hak-song was detained in May 2017. He was working at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. Kim Hak-song is the second US professor from that University to be detained.