College student from Virginia detained in North Korea

The CEO of Young Pioneer Tours, Gareth Johnson, confirmed via email Saturday that Warmbier had been staying at Pyongyang’s Yanggakdo International Hotel and was not with other tourists when the incident occurred.

In language that mirrors past North Korean claims of outside conspiracies, Pyongyang’s state media said the University of Virginia student, who attended high school outside Cincinnati, entered the country under the guise of a tourist and plotted to destroy North Korean unity with “the tacit connivance of the USA government and under its manipulation”.

The tour group said Warmbier’s family has been informed and is working with the U.S. State Department, the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Embassy, which carries out some consular services for U.S. citizens in North Korea, to address the arrest.

The U.S. State Department said it could not confirm the CNN report.

“Otto was one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met”, Thomas said.

In October, North Korea released a New York University student holding a USA green card six months after capturing him crossing into the country from China. Among their accusations: Bae allegedly committed “hostile acts” against the government and was plotting to overthrow the leaders in Pyongyang – a crime that in North Korea can be punishable by death.

The University of Virginia’s online student directory lists Otto Frederick Warmbier as a commerce undergraduate.

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

Warmbier went to a five-day trip to North Korea for the New Year’s holiday. While the tour company was clear about what was off-limits to photograph, she felt that if she accidentally took a wrong photo it would have been treated as “an innocent thing”, and authorities would have simply asked her to delete it. She recalls a history teacher on her tour who told the guides that their narrative of North Korean supremacy was historically inaccurate.

The story of Warmbier’s detention is all too familiar to Fowle who was held in detention almost six months in North Korea after he hid a Bible in a night club.

He said he doesn’t expect he’ll be called on this time to lobby the North Korean government to release Warmbier.

The statement came one day after the South Korean head of state proposed resuming the denuclearization talks.

Fowle said Warmbier’s detention appears to follow the same pattern of the world not knowing about his detention until weeks after it started.

The North Korean government has arrested and accused other US citizens of similar charges in the past.

Many of the North Americans arrested by North Korea in recent years have had links to Christian Evangelical groups. After 140 days of detainment, they were freed after diplomatic intervention from former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who negotiated their release.

Separately, North Korea convicted Lim Hyeon-soo, a 60-year-old South Korea-born pastor from Toronto, of committing “activities against” North Korea and sentenced him to life serving hard labor.