International

American student jailed 15-yrs in N’Korea for stealing propaganda posters

Published

8 years ago

March 16, 2016

American student jailed 15-yrs in N’Korea for stealing propaganda posters

Otto Warmbier a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in prison as punishment for allegedly trying to steal propaganda poster from his hotel.

Warmbier who was arrested in early January as he tried to leave the country after visiting as a tourist with a New Year’s tour group, in a statement made before his trial, told a gathering of reporters in Pyongyang he wanted the banner “as a trophy” for the mother of a friend.

The undergraduate student who came to the Asian country as a tourist was charged in a one-hour trial with subversion and sentenced by North Korea’s Supreme Court for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda banner from a restricted area of his hotel.

Warmbier visited North Korea through Young Pioneer Tours an agency which is strongly discouraged by the US State Department.

He had been staying at the Yanggakdo International Hotel, which is located on an island on a river that runs through Pyongyang.

North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spies to overthrow its government to enable the US-backed South Korean government to control the Korean peninsula.

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