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The North Korean authorities have released footage they say shows US student Otto Warmbier stealing a propaganda poster.

Warmbier, a 21-year-old student from the University of Virginia, was sentenced to 15 years hard labour in the DPRK yesterday at a trial in front of the country’s Supreme Court.

He was convicted of ‘subversive activities’ after he admitted stealing a banner with Kim Jong-il’s name on it from a restricted part of his hotel in Pyongyang.

‘In the course of the inquiry, the accused confessed to the serious offence,’ state news agency KCNA said, without elaborating.


Otto Warmbier giving a fingerprint sample (Picture: KCNA/AFP/Getty Images)

Warmbier travelled to the country with a travel agency, and stayed at the Yanggakdo International Hotel during his five-day tour.



Although tourists are allowed to travel to the DPRK, their visits are highly restricted.

The banner Warmbier is said to have stolen praises former leader Kim Jong-il (Picture: KCNA/Reuters)

The banner Warmbier is said to have taken from the hotel reads: ‘Let’s arm ourselves strongly with Kim Jong-il patriotism!’

US student sentenced to 15 years hard labour in North Korea

The phrase ‘Kim Jong-il patriotism’ was commonly used to glorify the late leader after he died in 2011.

Images of, and references to, North Korea’s current and former leaders are considered sacrosanct.

The banner was reportedly in a restricted area (Picture: KCNA/Reuters)

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CCTV footage shown during trial, and released to the media today, purports to show Warmbier entering a restricted part of the hotel in the early hours of January 1 and removing the banner from the wall.

The White House has condemned Warmbier’s sentence as ‘unduly harsh’, and is demanding the student’s ‘immediate release’ on humanitarian grounds.

The US has called Warmbier’s sentence ‘unduly harsh’ (Picture: KCNA/AFP/Getty Images)

As he was led from the court in handcuffs, he appeared to ask the Swedish ambassador to ‘keep working’ on his case.

The US does not have diplomatic relations with the DPRK and is represented by the Swedish embassy.