U.S. student, Otto Warmbier has been sentenced by North Korea’s highest court to 15 years in prison with hard labor after confessing to trying to steal a propaganda banner.
The American student had recently been paraded through Pyongyang after spending time in prison for allegedly taking a political banner in the Yanggakdo International Hotel while staying there on vacation.
On video, Warmbier tearfully confessed that he had tried to
steal the propaganda barrier and weeks later he has now appeared in North Korea’s
Supreme Court on Wednesday, where he was sentenced to 15 years in prison with
hard labor.
According to the American student, he had tried to steal the propaganda banner as a trophy for an acquaintance, who wanted to hang the banner in her church, the Friendship United Methodist Church. He said he had been offered a used car worth $10,000 if he could manage to steal the banner and was told that if he was detained, $200,000 would be paid to his mother as a charitable donation. According to Warmbier, he accepted the offer as his family is “suffering from very severe financial difficulties.”
Warmbier went on to say he had been encouraged by his
university’s “Z Society,” which he was attempting to join. Reportedly the “Z
Society” is described by a magazine of the university’s alumni association as
being a “semi-secret ring society” which was apparently founded back in 1892.
The society reportedly conducts philanthropy and puts on honorary dinners and
gives out academic awards.
A University of Virginia undergraduate, Warmbier, 21, of Wyoming,
Ohio was convicted and sentenced in the
one-hour trial, charged with subversion under Article 60 of North Korea’s
criminal code. According to the court, Warmbier 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."
According to the University of Virginia, they have been
aware of the reports about Warmbier’s arrest and had stayed in touch with his
family, but Philly.com states there
has been no additional comment at this time.
This isn’t the first time North Korea had held trials for
foreigners facing similar charges and reportedly all the trials are short in
nature, with severe punishments meted out to offenders. In the case of
Warmbier, he was arrested when he tried to leave the country in early January
after spending time with a New Year tour group.
Pyongyang is well known for accusing Washington and Seoul on
a regular basis of sending spies to overthrow the North Korean government, thus
allowing the U.S.-backed South Korean government to take over the entire Korean
Peninsula.
With the recent nuclear test and rocket launch in the
country, tensions are particularly high. Added to this are the joint military
exercises currently underway between the U.S. and South Korea that Kim Jong Un
sees as a dress rehearsal for an invasion of his country.
While U.S. tourism to North Korea is legal, the U.S. State
Department strongly advises against it. Reportedly arrests of this nature are
rare, but matters are complicated by the fact that Washington and Pyongyang do
not have diplomatic ties. Under the present circumstances, the Swedish Embassy
in Pyongyang reportedly acts as a go-between for U.S. citizens that run afoul
of the North Korean authorities.
In the case of Warmbier, the hotel he was staying in at the
time, like many of the tourist hotels in Pyongyang, had areas reserved for
North Korean staff which were off-limits to foreigners. The U.S. student had
apparently strayed into one of these areas when trying to steal the propaganda
banner.
Source: Philly.com
