USA student Otto Warmbier has been released from incarceration in North Korea, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has confirmed.
Mr Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in jail with hard labour after he confessed that he tried to steal a propaganda banner. Tillerson made no mention of Rodman's visit, and said the department would have no further comment on Warmbier and his condition, citing privacy concerns. Here is the timeline. The official said the last instruction Trump gave Tillerson was to "take care of Otto".
Headed back to North Korea.
But on his final night in Pyongyang - New Year's Eve - Warmbier apparently went to a staff-only floor of his hotel and attempted to take down a large propaganda sign lauding the regime.
In announcing his arrest in 2016, North Korean state news media said that Mr. Warmbier had visited the country with the intention of "bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity".
Mr Warmbier was supposed to graduate from the university in May. Warmbier's family said in a statement that he is in a coma and on his way home.
Warmbier was freed on the same day former National Basketball Association star Dennis Rodman landed in North Korea to visit its leader, Kim Jong Un.
North Korea releases jailed American student
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced Tuesday the release of Otto Warmbier (WORM'-bir), a University of Virginia student. The latter was sentenced to 10 years' hard labor after confessing at a government-arranged news conference in March 2016 .
The United States State Department secured the release of an American prisoner in North Korea on the same day Dennis Rodman touched down in the country.
North Korean state media at the time said Warmbier "was caught committing a hostile act against the state", which it said was "tolerated and manipulated by the USA government".
In a video released by North Korea of a press conference shortly after Mr. Warmbier's arrest, he is seen distraught and crying, admitting to some of the crimes. He was released after more than 17 months of detention in North Korea and, tragically, a statement from his parents said he is in a coma and has been since March of 2016. Warmbier was evacuated Tuesday. In a one-hour trial, he was sentenced to 15 years hard labor.
Warmbier would have graduated last month had he not been detained. As I have said in the past, we must always prioritize and ensure the safe return of all USA citizens, including those who remain detained by the North Korean regime. Trump also praised one of Rodman's first trips in 2013, calling him "sharp and smart". He was detained at Pyongyang's airport ahead of a flight to China.
The North has occasionally jailed U.S. citizens and released them only after visits by high-profile political figures including former president Bill Clinton.
That was used as evidence in his hour-long trial, during which North Korea accused him of committing "hostile acts" against the regime at the urging of a purported member of a church in his home state of OH, a secretive university organization and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Comments