North Korea has presented a detained American student before media in Pyongyang

“This was a very foolish aim”, he said at a press conference in Pyongyang. North Korea announced late last month that it had arrested the 21-year-old University of Virginia u…

At the time, North Korea said the U.S. government had “tolerated and manipulated” him.

American student Otto Warmbier, right, bows as Warmbier is presented to the reporters on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. He was not restrained and was wearing dark pants, a light-colored blazer, shirt and tie.

According to KCNA, the slogan removed by Warmbier was aimed at inspiring “the Korean people’s love for their system”.

“I understand the severity of my crime, and I have no idea what sort of penalty I may face, but I am begging to the Korean people and government for my forgiveness”. In a video clip gathered by CNN via Daily Mail, Warmbier revealed that he had made the worst mistake of his life. It is unclear whether Warmbier’s statement was voluntary because foreign detainees in North Korea admitted that they were forced to say something against their will.

Isolated North Korea is expected to face tough new UN Security Council resolution following its nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch this month. He was arrested when the group was set to return to Beijing on Jan 2.

“The slogan was bigger than he had thought”. The American student said that he was asked by a member of the Friendship United Methodist Church to take the slogan with him to the U.S.as his trophy. The State Department said it was aware of the situation but declined to comment over “privacy considerations”.

A senior pastor from the church later confirmed that Warmbier is not a member of the congregation of 500 worshippers. “If his family went to our church, we would’ve been much more involved” in pushing for his release, Kanyion said.

According to KCNA, Warmbier also said he was encouraged in his act by a member of the Z Society, an elite philanthropic organization at the University of Virginia that he hoped to join. Warmbier was allegedly told he could gain membership to the selective organization if he carried out his “mission”.

“There is no doubt that the Central Intelligence Agency knows the Z Society’s encouragement of my crime”, Warmbier was quoted as saying.

“My crime is very severe and pre-planned”, Warmbier was said, adding that he was impressed by North Korea’s “humanitarian treatment of severe criminals like myself”.

American tourists as political pawns?

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

Pyongyang has in the past used detained United States citizens to extract high-profile visits from the USA, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations.

Days after Warmbier’s arrest in January, Pyongyang claimed to test its first H-bomb. But there have been several incidents of American tourists detained in recent years. Zealous curiosity also shaped the odd case of Matthew Miller, a 25-year-old Californian freed alongside missionary Kenneth Bae after James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, visited to secure their release in November 2014.