North Korea said Friday that it arrested University of Virginia student Otto Frederick Warmbier, 21, for allegedly committing a "hostile act" against the state. Warmbier was reportedly arrested Jan. 2 at Pyongyang airport as he prepared to depart from a five-day trip to North Korea over New Years Eve, just four days before North Korea carried out its nuclear test.
North Korea has yet to release any details about the alleged "hostile act," but the notoriously isolated nation did say that Warmbier entered as a tourist with the intention "to destroy the country's unity" and that the U.S. government had "tolerated and manipulated him" BBC reports.
"We are in touch with Otto's family, the U.S. State Department, and the Embassy of Sweden in Pyongyang and doing all we can to secure his release," Gareth Johnson of China-based tour agency Young Pioneer Tours, which organized Warmbier's visit, said. Sweden is responsible for handling U.S. consular issues with North Korea since Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.
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Warmbier is in his third year at UVA and, according to the university's website, is a commerce student. He is the third known Westerner to be held in North Korea.
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