North Korea arrests U.S. student for ‘anti-state’ acts

KCNA identified the student as Warmbier Otto Frederick, saying he was under investigation.

The China-based Young Pioneer Tours had arranged for Frederick’s trip into the country as part of its “New Year’s Party Tour”.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Friday that six-party talks, which exclude North Korea, should be sought to restart the dialogue channel to dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

Kirby said in such cases the United States works closely with the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang which assists Washington in North Korea. Some foreigners previously arrested have read statements of guilt they later said were coerced.

The so-called six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program in return for aid have been stalled since they were last held in December 2008.

North Korea in the past has sometimes released or deported USA detainees after high-profile Americans visited the country.

Other current North Korean prisoners include Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim, sentenced to life in prison for “subversion”, and American Kim Dong Chul, whose captors recently permitted him to speak with CNN and who pleaded to the American and South Korean governments for rescue.

“Otto is brilliant, and if there was anyone who could talk their way out of something as absurd as being detained by North Korea, it’s Otto”, Anderson said.

“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.

In a show of strength earlier this month, a nuclear-capable US B-52 bomber – flanked by South Korean F-15 fighter jets and US F-16 planes – flew a mission just south of the inter-Korea border. In late 2014, for instance, North Korea released two Americans after a secret mission to the North by James Clapper, the top USA intelligence official.

Only the 15-member Security Council can refer the situation in North Korea to the ICC, but diplomats say China, North Korea’s main benefactor, would likely veto such a move.

A sunrise is seen through a barbed-wire fence at the Imjingak, near the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating South and North Korea on January 8, 2016 in Paju, South Korea.