North Korea presents detained American to media

Mr Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia student, had been on a tourist trip to North Korea in January.

The confession comes as the US leads UN Security Council discussions on new sanctions that could include mandatory inspections of all vessels going in and out of North Korea and a ban on exports of certain minerals – a key source of hard currency for the Kim Jong Un regime.

In a video released by CNN, Warmbier says he did take down the banner hanging in the hotel.

Warmbier said a “deaconess” had offered him a used vehicle worth US$10,000 (A$14,000) if he could present a U.S. church with the slogan as a “trophy” from North Korea, KCNA said. The U.S.’s efforts to help Warmbier are complicated by having no diplomatic relations with North Korea.

While the U.S. State Department has not confirmed his arrest, the group he was traveling with confirmed Warmbier was detained on their website.

“He seems to be in good health, although we won’t know for sure about his condition until we have a chance to speak with him”, the statement said.

The U.S. also has a warfare strategy to intercept North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles with its Ground-Based Interceptor, known as GBI, if the communist country launches them at the mainland U.S., the official said.

Other Westerners detained in North Korea previously have confessed to crimes against the state.

An official in the university’s communications office could not immediately be reached for comment.

The North’s official KCNA news agency said Otto Frederick Warmbier, who was arrested in early January as he was leaving the country, had given an “interview” Monday with domestic and foreign journalists in Pyongyang.