Otto Warmbier, 21, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a short trial at North Korea’s Supreme Court on March 16. He has been detained for more than two months for attempting to steal a propaganda sign in Pyongyang. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
Diplomats from the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which represents American interests in North Korea because the United States does not have diplomatic relations with the country, were present at the trial.
By Anna Fifield, Susan Svrluga and Carol Morello-March 16
SEOUL — The University of Virginia student being held in North Korea was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison with hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel in Pyongyang.
SEOUL — The University of Virginia student being held in North Korea was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison with hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel in Pyongyang.
Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old economics major from Cincinnati who had gone to North Korea with a tour group, was convicted after a one-hour trial in the Supreme Court. Video footage showed Warmbier, dressed in the same clothes he was wearing during a highly choreographed news conference last month, being led into the court room in handcuffs.
Diplomats from the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which represents American interests in North Korea because the United States does not have diplomatic relations with the country, were present at the trial.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday afternoon that the administration is urging the North Korean government to pardon Warmbier, grant him special amnesty, and release him.
