‘American Student Detained at Pyongyang Airport over Hotel Incident’

“It would be effective in the North Korean nuclear issue if the participating countries in the six-way talks, excluding North Korea, put pressure on North Korea”, a senior presidential official said.

The state news agency claimed that the student entered North Korea nominally for tourism, though the real intention was to undermine North Korea’s unity under the US government’s acquiescence and control.

Warmbier is the second person from southwest OH to be detained in North Korea in less than two years.

“We are in touch with Otto’s family, the US State Department and the Embassy of Sweden in Pyongyang and doing all we can to secure his release”, Mr Johnson said.

Although the specific reasons for Warmbier’s detention are unknown, travelers to North Korea are advised to be circumspect and respect the country’s regulation of “unlawful” actions and carrying material that could lead to detention. He was arrested on suspicion that he was conducting an investigation of North Korean prison camps.

The official said the proposed five-way talks are meant to coordinate their stance within the framework of the six-party talks, citing North Korea’s lack of willingness for denuclearization.

Hall said the United States has little leverage with North Korea.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told media that, “We are aware of media reports that a USA citizen was detained in North Korea”.

News of the detention came against a backdrop of ongoing diplomatic discussions in the global community about how to deal with North Korea following a nuclear test on January 6.

A China-based travel agency said Saturday Warmbier was being held over an unspecified incident at his hotel before he was scheduled to board a flight for Beijing.

“Our office is in contact with the State Department and the family, and we will do everything we can to help bring him home safely”, Jennifer Donohue, a spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. “If you’re caught with one of those pictures, it’s literally a foreign agent committing espionage against the DPRK”, he says. The University of Virginia’s online student directory lists someone named Otto Frederick Warmbier as an undergraduate commerce student.

Fowle said in 2014 he had left a Bible in a North Korean nightclub in hopes it would reach underground Christians.

South Korea recently warned that the North would continue testing nuclear weapons unless China joined its decisive action to “punish” its latest test. The country also warned that the USA and its allies were cooking up new sanctions meant to inflict “bone-numbing pain” on the North in retaliation for its latest nuclear test.

James R. Clapper Jr., director of national intelligence, went to North Korea in November 2014 to gain the release of two Americans. Earlier this month, a Korean-American man told CNN in Pyongyang that he was being held by the state for spying.