US tourist Otto Warmbier freed after being sentenced to 15 years hard labour in North Korea

Freed: Otto Warmbier was sentenced to hard labour in North Korea
Reuters
Chris Baynes13 June 2017

An American tourist sentenced to 15 years hard labour in North Korea has been freed.

Otto Warmbier was jailed in March 2016 after confessing to attempting to steal a propaganda banner from a hotel in the secretive state's capital Pyongyang.

The 22-year-old was flying home to the US to be reunited with his family after Donald Trump's government brokered his release, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday.

The University of Virginia student from suburban Cincinnati was serving a 15 year prison term with hard labour after being convicted of subversion.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced the student's release
AP

He had been arrested in early January as he tried to leave North Korea after visiting the country with a tour group. In a tearful televised confession before his Supreme Court trial, he said he wanted the banner “as a trophy” for the mother of a friend.

At the time, North Korea claimed Mr Warmbier committed an anti-state crime with “the tacit connivance of the US government and under its manipulation”.

Mr Tillerson said on Tuesday the State Department was still in talks with three other over three other detained Americans with North Korea.

The announcement comes as former NBA player Dennis Rodman makes a second visit North Korea, saying he wants to “open the door” to the regime.

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