US Student on ‘Budget’ Tour Held in N. Korea

The state-run agency, KCNA, said the student, Otto Frederick Warmbier, entered North Korea as a tourist but “with a goal to wreck the foundation of state unity … under the manipulation of the USA government”.

A University of Virginia student is under arrest in North Korea and is being accused of hostile acts.

“The welfare of USA citizens is one of the Department’s highest priorities”, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said in a statement.

Otto Frederick Warmbier was detained January 2 in Pyongyang, according to Young Pioneer Tours, the China-based travel company that organized his trip.

Warmbier apparently was detained over an earlier incident at the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, said Guttridge, who declined to comment on the specific nature of the incident.

It says the student allegedly plotted to undermine the North’s system and that has links to the US government.

Less than a week after carrying out the latest test, authorities in Pyongyang gave CNN access to Kim Dong-chul, who described himself as a naturalized USA citizen detained on suspicion of spying for South Korea.

The University of Virginia’s website lists an undergraduate with that name at the McIntire School of Commerce, the university’s business school.

She said that even if the talks open, doubts on the effectiveness will be raised if the talks do not help to denuclearize North Korea.

“The only way DPRK tourism is not safe, in my opinion, is for tourists who plan on participating in any civil disobedience”, says Ryan Romanchuk, who visited North Korea from the U.S.in 2011, in an interview conducted via Facebook.

North Korea is holding an American student after he committed a “hostile act” at New Years.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter have visited North Korea to retrieve US citizens.

Hall said the United States has little leverage with North Korea. Fowle says his thoughts and prayers are with them.

Republican presidential candidate John Kasich (KAY’-sik) has written to the Democratic president asking that “every effort” be made to secure release of Otto Warmbier (WORM’-bir) and that his Cincinnati-area family be kept apprised of the efforts.

The United States on Saturday voiced its support for five-way talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea proposed by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, noting they will be a “useful step”.

A University of Virginia student is at the center of an global dispute.

Warmbier’s fellow Ohioan Jeffrey Fowle was arrested and held for six months after leaving a Bible in a North Korean night club.

As the number of tourists entering North Korea swells, the ethics – and safety – of visiting the most insular kingdom of the world has been called into question.

“I never heard him speak ill of the North Korean government”.

Hall said he was in communication with North Korea representatives in the United States to push for the release of Fowle.

Soon after, a North Korean contact passed on a message concerning Mr Warmbier’s detention to Young Pioneer Tours founder Gareth Johnson, who was in Pyongyang with a separate group due to catch a train to the Chinese border.