US tourist sentenced to 15 years hard labour by North Korean court

Jailed: Otto Warmbier said he wanted to take a propaganda banner back to the US 'as a trophy'

Reuters

Michael Howie16 March 2016

An American tourist was today sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in a North Korean prison after admitting attempting to steal a propaganda banner from hotel.

Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate student, was convicted of subversion and sentenced in a one-hour trial at the Supreme Court.

Mr Warmbier was arrested in early January as he tried to leave the country after visiting as a tourist with a new year tour group.

In a statement before his trial, he told a gathering of reporters in Pyongyang he wanted the banner “as a trophy” for the mother of a friend.

North Korea announced the arrest in late January, saying Mr Warmbier committed an anti-state crime with “the tacit connivance of the US government and under its manipulation”.

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