Detained US student says stole N. Korean ‘political slogan’

CNN showed a video of a sobbing Mr Warmbier saying: “I have made the worst mistake of my life, but please act to save me”.

“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”, Warmbier said.

An American college student detained in North Korea last month has appeared in public in North Korea.

Warmbier was detained on 2 January as he was about to fly out of the country, according to Young Pioneer Tours, an agency specialising in travel to North Korea.

USA student Otto Warmbier speaks at a news conference in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang.

“Our top priority is to get him back home with us as quickly as possible”, read a copy of the statement released to the University of Virginia’s communications office after Mr. Warmbier’s appearance on a North Korean news broadcast.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said that as a general practice, it was not uncommon for North Korea to detain and imprison people on false or “trumped-up” charges, and use detentions for propaganda purposes.

Warmbier grew up in Wyoming, Ohio, northeast of Cincinnati.

Warmbier told the media his crime “is very severe and pre-planned”, but the authorities have impressed him with their “humanitarian treatment of severe criminals”.

The statement said, “We had not heard from him during these many weeks, so you can imagine how deeply anxious we were and what a traumatic experience this has been for us”.

Warmbier was a finance and operations intern at Finishing Technology, his father’s firm, from June 2010 to August 2013, and helped run a student investment fund at the University of Virginia, according to his Linkedin profile.

In the press conference, Warmbier claimed the task to steal the slogan from the hotel was given to him by the Friendship UMC and encouraged by both the Z Society and the USA administration, according to a translated transcript from KCNA. He urged President Obama to “make every effort to secure Mr. Warmbier’s immediate release and keep (his) family constantly apprised”.

“Since my family is suffering from very severe financial difficulties, I started to consider this as my only golden opportunity to earn money”, he was quoted as saying.

US tourism to North Korea is legal and virtually all Americans who make the journey return home without incident.

Even so, the State Department has repeatedly warned against travel to the North. Visitors, especially those from America, who break the countrys sometimes murky rules risk detention, arrest and possible jail sentences.

Warmbier had entered North Korea as a tourist on a five-day New Year’s tour with a group of 20 and was delayed at immigration before being taken away by two airport officials, according to the tour operator that sponsored the trip.