US Student Brings America To Tears As He Breaks Down, Sentenced To 15-Yrs In N. Korean HELL

17 Mar, 2016 by Greg Campbell

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North Korea is particularly dangerous not because they are big and powerful, but because the government is incredibly unhinged. With a God-like leader and a devastated economy, the small nation is prone to big gestures. This week, North Korean despots sentenced and American student to 15 years in a North Korean prison camp for a litany of offenses with which the North Korean government charged him in a show trial.

An American tourist cried hysterically in a North Korean courtroom Wednesday after a judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison with hard labor on a subversion charge, as US officials demanded his release and the White House announced tough new sanctions on the insular Southeast Asian state.

Otto Warmbier admitted to attempting to steal a propaganda banner from a restricted area of his hotel at the request of an acquaintance who wanted to hang it in her church.

Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate student, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial at the North’s Supreme Court.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the sentence was ‘unduly harsh’ and urged North Korea to pardon Warmbier and release him on humanitarian grounds….

Last month, North Korea paraded Warmbier before the media in Pyongyang, where he tearfully apologized for attempting to steal the political banner.

He sobbed as he begged for forgiveness for the ‘hostile’ act, claiming the attempted theft, from a staff-only section of the hotel where he had been staying, had been at the behest of a member of a church back home who wanted it as a ‘trophy’.

‘I made the worst mistake of my life,’ the tearful UVA student said at the press conference, which was covered by North Korean and international media, according to CNN.

‘I committed the crime of taking down a political slogan from the staff holding area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel,’ Warmbier said.

‘I apologize to each and every one of the millions of the Korean people and I beg that you see how I was used and manipulated,’ the student’s statement continued.

‘I plead for you to forgive me, not for me, but for my family,’ he added.

In video from the press conference, Warmbier could be seen bowing his head as he asked for forgiveness.

He said: ‘I never, never should have allowed myself to be lured by the United States administration to commit a crime in this country.’

‘I wish that the United States administration never manipulate people like myself in the future to commit crimes against foreign countries.’

‘I entirely beg you, the people and government of [North Korea], for your forgiveness. Please!’

The CIA, an underground organization at the University of Virginia, and a church member in Warmbier’s hometown of Wyoming, Ohio, were all blamed for pressuring the student to commit the crime, CNN reported.

It is unknown whether or not Warmbier was forced to speak at the press conference – but a North Korean official told the station the student called the press conference ‘at his own request.’

However, the insular East Asian nation, whose official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is known for staging propaganda spectacles in opposition to the United States.

In previous cases, people who have been detained in North Korea and made a public confession often recant those statements after their release…

He was arrested while visiting the country with Young Pioneer Tours, an agency specializing in travel to North Korea, which is strongly discouraged by the U.S. State Department.

He had been staying at the Yanggakdo International Hotel, which is located on an island in a river that runs through Pyongyang, the capital.

It is common for sections of tourist hotels to be reserved for North Korean staff and off-limits to foreigners.

The alleged attempted theft occurred on January 1, the day before Warmbier was due to leave the country after a trip organized through the China-based travel agency Young Pioneer Tours.

As Warmbier was about to board the plane from Pyongyang, he was detained by North Korean authorities, witnesses said.

An Irish student who was booked on the same flight as Warmbier said the American was accosted by armed officials at the airport and dragged away.

‘When we were leaving one of the other tour group’s [the Young Pioneers] tour leader said ‘We’re missing Otto,” the student, who was only identified as Darragh, told the Independent.

‘[The tour leader] got up and was really frantically running up and down the plane. She ran to the air hostess and was trying to say to the air hostess that “we’re missing Otto.” She then went up to business class and he wasn’t there.’

According to Warmbier’s statement on Monday, he wanted the banner with a political slogan on it as a trophy for the church member, who was the mother of a friend.

If Warmbier actually stole the banner, than it was a stupid thing to do.

However, it’s clear that 15 years in a prison camp is not only a hellish experience, but intended to serve a much-bigger purpose: to humiliate the United States.

Unfortunately for Warmbier, President Obama has a habit of not caring about captured Americans (unless they’re traitorous deserters). So, he cannot count on an diplomatic efforts on his behalf any time soon.