The parents of an American college student who tearfully apologized on North Korean state television on Monday for having plotted to steal a political banner said they had been unable to speak with their son since the North Korean police seized him two months ago.

In a statement about the arrest of the student, Otto F. Warmbier, an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, the parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, also said they hoped the televised apology would lead to his release. It was the first time they had said anything publicly about their son’s ordeal.

“Our top priority is to get him back home with us as quickly as possible,” read a copy of the statement released to the University of Virginia’s communications office after Mr. Warmbier’s appearance on a North Korean news broadcast.

The statement urged the North Korean government to “consider his youth and make an important humanitarian gesture by allowing him to return to his loved ones.”