Posted on 03/18/2016 10:11:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
North Korea has released a grainy video that it claims shows American student Otto Warmbier attempting to steal a propaganda banner from a hotel — an accusation for which he received 15 years of hard labor.
The short clip at the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang shows an unidentifiable figure removing a sign from a wall before placing it on the floor.
The banner in the hotel apparently says: "Let's arm ourselves strongly with Kim Jong Il patriotism," referring to the isolated state's leader who died in 2011.
The short security-camera footage could not be verified, and the clip shows a brightly lit corridor in the hotel supposedly in the early hours of January 1, when Warmbier was accused of taking the sign.
North Korea regularly blacks out many buildings because of resource shortages in the country.
Warmbier was arrested as he attempted to leave the country in January and later made a televised "confession" saying he had taken the sign to bring back as a "trophy."
The 21-year-old student, who had visited the isolated state as a tourist, had said during his confession that he had tried to steal the banner for an acquaintance who wanted to hang it in her church.
The North Korean state news agency KCNA earlier said that the University of Virginia student's offense was "pursuant to the US government's hostile policy" and that he was convicted under an article of the criminal code dealing with subversion.
Foreigners are often detained in North Korea, where they are used by Pyongyang to exert diplomatic pressure.
But the rogue state has often imposed stiff sentences before releasing prisoners, and many of those who have confessed later say they were forced to do so.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
He should be arrested for wearing that tie with that shirt.
I think these guys will find that a President Trump won’t negotiate much over episodes like this. They will probably be offered a pallet of canned beans and a pallet of Ole Milwaukee Beer, under Trump.
Probably a loud mouth Ahole Bernie guy on campus.
He for got where he was.
The real world sucks
Moron. I do not understand why anyone would travel to that country without diplomatic immunity. I don’t understand why our government allows people to travel there for any reason.
Mistake 1, thinking one can go to NK as a tourist
Mistake 2, thinking mistake 1 was not in fact a mistake
Yes what an idiot.Why was he there in the 1st place?
Mistake 1, Going to NK
Reality bites. Kids need to just behave themselves &
understand they are not “special” to the rest of the
world. Hard, hard lesson. :o(
you’re supposed to be an intelligent college student....
you go to the most oppressive country on the planet
and
you do something incredibly sophomoric and stupid.
and
now you want sympathy?????
really????
i should rethink my first statement...
How could a kid be so stupid?
He is in North Korea for Heaven’s Sake! And somehow he thinks he can simply take down a government poster for a souvenir?
And he better realize real quickly that all of his crying and blubbering is not going to help him in the least in front of those animals.
They are getting a kick out of producing such a scene...so they will do more and more to get more and more of it.
This kid is in a very bad way...and we have an administration that is more than willing to give away the kitchen sink to get him back, rather than negotiating with the animal in Pyongyang from a position of strength.
Send a back channel message showing a sat pic of Kim getting into his fricking bath tub letting him know that we have a ballistic missile launch test coming up tomorrow that may just go wrong and plant one right up his overweight backside to the point that he will be reading the US Serial number imprinted on the back of his eyeballs.
I would be REALLY interested in knowing if this kid supported Hillary or Sanders before all this happened, and now....Would he prefer those two negotiating for his release or someone like Trump?
What a loser.
He’s 21? He looks 31.
Why on Earth did this idiot ever go to North Korea in the first place?
Otto Warmbier never had much luck. His cousin, Hans Coldbier, was always the most popular guy in any crowd.
I find it impossible to work up any sympathy for this moronic crybaby.
I’m surprised North Korea even allows tourism.
Oh, dear - grabbing a souvenir from the hotel, a crime which wouldn’t have gotten a college sophomore on spring break in Ft. Lauderdale more than a fifty dollar fine.
Why didn’t the Norks just have this poor sod dig a hole, then shoot him in the head and cover over the body, then bill his family for the pistol round?
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