Q: Are any efforts being made to secure the release of the University of Virginia student sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for stealing a poster in North Korea? Is he still alive?
—Beverly Godown, Loganville
A: The U.S. Department of State continues to pursue the release of Otto Warmbier, who was arrested in North Korea on Jan. 2 for trying to remove a propaganda poster from a hotel during a trip to Pyongyang.
Warmbier, 21, was sentenced on March 16.
“The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the State Department,” a State Department official told Q&A on the News. “The United States government continues to actively work to secure his earliest possible release.”
Sweden works as the United States’ “protecting power for issues involving U.S. citizens in North Korea,” since the two countries don’t have diplomatic relations. The U.S. State Department is “in regular, close coordination with representatives of the Embassy of Sweden,” the official wrote.
None of the 12 U.S. citizens arrested in North Korea since 2009 have been held more than two years, the New York Times reported in March.
“Despite official claims that U.S. citizens arrested in the (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) are not used for political purposes, it is increasingly clear from its very public treatment of these cases that the DPRK does just that,” the State Department official wrote. “Now that Mr. Warmbier has gone through this criminal process, we urge the DPRK to pardon him and grant him special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds.”
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column; Will Robinson contributed. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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