U.S. Student Detained in North Korea Begs for Early Release

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - FEB. 19: An American university student who has been detained in North Korea since early January apologized Monday for having committed what Pyongyang calls an anti-state hostile act and begged for his early release. The student's meeting with the press in Pyongyang, organized by North Korean authorities, comes as the U.N. Security Council is expected to adopt fresh sanctions in the coming days against the country over its fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch earlier this month that utilized banned ballistic missile technology. Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old student of the University of Virginia, confessed to local and foreign media, including Kyodo News, that he stole a political slogan meant to inspire the Korean people's love for their system from a staff-only area of the hotel where he had been staying on Jan. 1. Warmbier, wearing a blazer and necktie, tearfully expressed remorse for what he did and said he hopes North Korea will "allow me to return home." North Korea's official media first reported about Warmbier on Jan. 22, saying he was suspected of entering the country "under the guise of a tourist for the purpose of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity at the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation." The student told the meeting, which was also attended by some foreign diplomats, that he had decided to commit the "crime" after being asked by his friend's mother, a member of the Friendship United Methodist Church, in September last year to bring back an important political slogan from North Korea. Warmbier said he stole the sign or banner with a slogan partly because she had offered him a used car if he managed to do so. He said he entered North Korea as a tourist on Dec. 29, about a week before the country conducted its fourth nuclear test in defiance of past U.N. resolutions. Warmbier is the sixth foreign national known to be held in North Korea.