SEOUL: North Korea said Friday it had arrested a US student who, under orders from Washington, had engaged in an unspecified “hostile act” after entering the country on a tourist visa.
According to the reports, the detention comes at a sensitive time, with the United States taking a leading role in efforts to secure tough international sanctions on North Korea over its latest nuclear test.
Pyongyang has a history of using detainees as bargaining chips to extract concessions and high-profile visits to secure their release.
The student, identified as Otto Frederick Warmbier from the University of Virginia, had entered North Korea as a tourist “for the purpose of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity at the tacit connivance of the US government and under its manipulation.
He was detained “while perpetrating a hostile act against the DPRK”, it added, without specifying when the arrest was actually made or when Warmbier entered the country.
He becomes the third North American detained in North Korea, which last month sentenced a 60-year-old Canadian pastor to life imprisonment with hard labour on sedition charges.
