The North Korean government found Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old economics student at the University of Virginia, guilty of committing “severe crimes” against the state for allegedly attempting to steal a political banner from a hotel in the capital, Pyongyang.

The Guardian reports:

Warmbier’s conviction by the North’s supreme court, announced on Wednesday by China’s Xinhua news agency, comes soon after the UN security council agreed a new round of sanctions in response to the regime’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch. The White House also announced a fresh round of sanctions on North Korea in response to those same incidents on Wednesday. …

The US accused North Korea of using Warmbier for propaganda purposes after he made a stage-managed confession in late February.

In a prepared statement read out before TV cameras, Warmbier said a member of Friendship United Methodist Church in Wyoming, Ohio, described as the mother of a friend, had offered him a used car worth $10,000 if he could return with the banner as a “trophy” from North Korea. …

Warmbier broke down in tears as he acknowledged and apologised for his alleged crime, which he described as “the worst mistake of my life”. …

Warmbier’s parents pleaded with the North to show leniency, citing his youth and the fact that he had made a full confession in public.

Read more here.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

WAIT BEFORE YOU GO...

This year, the ground feels uncertain — facts are buried and those in power are working to keep them hidden. Now more than ever, independent journalism must go beneath the surface.

At Truthdig, we don’t just report what's happening — we investigate how and why. We follow the threads others leave behind and uncover the forces shaping our future.

Your tax-deductible donation fuels journalism that asks harder questions and digs where others won’t.

Don’t settle for surface-level coverage.

Unearth what matters. Help dig deeper.

Donate now.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG