North Korea says it arrests US student for ‘hostile act’

Earlier this month, USA news channel CNN reported that North Korea had detained another U.S. citizen on suspicion of spying.

However, thorough details are not given by KCNA, but said that the student was now being probed.

Warmbier entered the country “for the objective of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity at the tacit connivance of the USA government”, the report said.

North Korea also accused the unnamed student of having links to the United States government.

North Korea announced Friday that Warmbier was arrested for committing a “hostile act” while visiting the authoritarian country.

In February a year ago, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations said his country was not concerned about the threat because it was not guilty of any crime.

“Relevant parties, although it is not an easy matter, should find out various and creative approaches such as trying five-party talks excluding North Korea”, Park said.

“Our thoughts are with Otto Warmbier and his family and we are certainly eager to have him return to the university”, Axler said.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a short report that the student, whom it identified as Warmbier Otto Frederick, was “arrested while perpetrating a hostile act”, but didn’t say when he was detained or explain the nature of the act.

Warmbier is a third-year student studying commerce at the University of Virginia, according to The Cavalier Daily, the school’s student newspaper.

Darusman, a co-author of the 2014 report, was speaking at the end of a trip to Tokyo, having been repeatedly refused access to North Korea.

Young Pioneers, one of the handful of tour companies that operate in North Korea, acknowledged that Warmbier was on one of its tours.

He was apparently in North Korea traveling with a China-based tour group, Young Pioneer Tours.

The Swedish Embassy represents USA interests in North Korea, given Washington and Pyongyang don’t have formal diplomatic relations.

A year ago a South Korean-Canadian pastor was arrested in the North and given a life sentence for subversion.

However, Beijing’s leverage over Pyongyang is mitigated by its overriding fear of a North Korean collapse and the prospect of a reunified, US-allied Korea directly on its border.