Tour Group Confirms American Held in N. Korea

North Korea often announces news of detained foreigners in times of tensions to gain leverage against the outside world.

Warmbier Otto Frederick, a student at Virginia University, entered the country as a tourist, according to Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency. The date of his arrest wasn’t clear.

North Korea has sometimes listed English-language surnames first, in the Korean style.

Kasich has been in New Hampshire campaigning ahead of the state’s February 9 primary.

Republican presidential candidate John Kasich (KAY’-sik) said in a message on his Twitter account that the student should be “released & returned immediately”. The University of Virginia’s online student directory lists someone named Otto Frederick Warmbier as an undergraduate commerce student.

Warmbier played soccer and was the salutatorian of his 2013 class at Wyoming High School near Cincinnati, WCPO reported.

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul said it was aware of the report.

The company’s website says it “provides budget tours to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from”. The married father of three attends church regularly with his family and returned to a job in the city of Moraine’s street department, Tepe said. Sweden represents U.S. interests in North Korea as Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.

The Tribune said the latest arrest happens while U.S seeks rigid sanctions over North Korea’s latest nuclear test. Those arrested have sometimes read statements of guilt that they later said were coerced.

The student is the third Western citizen known to be held in North Korea.

State-run North Korean television has broadcast a statement about the detention of an American student in Pyongyang. We are also assisting the U.S Department of State closely with regards to the situation.

Bae was released in November, 2014, along with fellow American Matthew Miller, after a secret mission to Pyongyang led by United States intelligence chief James Clapper.

The United States and North Korea are in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

“South Korea should seek various and creative approaches such as attempting five-way talks that exclude North Korea as well as six-party talks”, Park said.