U.S. student held in Korea
A UNIVERSITY of Virginia honors student is under arrest in North Korea for what the rogue nation described Friday as a “hostile act” meant to undermine stability.
Otto Warmbier was detained Jan. 2 at Pyongyang airport at the end of a five-day visit with other college students, a spokesman for trip coordinator Young Pioneer Tours told the Washington Post.
An Irish tourist on what was supposed to be Warmbier’s departing flight told the UK’s Independent newspaper that Warmbier was yelled at by an armed official in the airport and dragged away.
“We were constantly told the smallest thing was considered a hostile attack. I bought lots of magazines and books there, and we were told not to fold them in a way that creased Kim Jong Un’s face. They said that would be an attack on their country,” the 25-year-old tourist identified only as Darragh said.
Warmbier is a third-year commerce student at the University of Virginia and a member of the Theta Chi fraternity. He was a top student and varsity soccer player at his high school in suburban Cincinnati and served as salutatorian of his 2013 graduating class, Wyoming City Schools spokeswoman Susanna Max told the Daily News.
“We’re supporting the family’s privacy at this point,” she said, declining to answer further questions. “It’s really heartbreaking.”
Calls and messages sent to Warmbier’s parents were not answered Friday.
“I can tell you he’s a very intelligent, wonderful young man,” Jeremy Marcel, a professor at the University of Virginia, told the Associated Press.
“We are certainly eager to have him return to the university,” Abraham Axler, president of the university’s student council, told the Washington Post. “He’s a vivacious, kind and involved member of our community.”
Last April, the country detained NYU student Won Moon Joo, saying the 21-year-old originally from South Korea had entered the country illegally.
Joo was released in October after six months of detention.