US student confesses to ‘severe crimes’ against North Korea

AN American college student has confessed to “severe crimes” against North Korea after he stole a political slogan from a staff-only section of a hotel.

UPLOADED IMAGE - In this Oct. 10, 2015, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers remarks at a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea said on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, it has conducted a hydrogen bomb test. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

AN American college student has confessed to “severe crimes” against North Korea.

University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, 21, was detained by North Korean authorities before boarding his flight to China in January after he stole a political slogan from a staff-only section of the hotel he had been staying.

“I committed the crime of taking out a political slogan from the staff-only area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel,” state media quoted Warmbier.

Detained university student Otto Warmbier speaks during a press conference in North Korea. Picture: AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon.

Warmbier said he took the slogan as a trophy for a church that offered to pay him for it.

Last month, North Korea announced that the student had conducted an anti-state crime with “the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation.”

Please don’t let me die here

North Korea has a long history of detaining foreigners, and the US and Canadian governments advise against travel there.

Pyongyang has in the past used detained US citizens to extract high-profile visits from the US, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations.