US student Otto Warmbier given hard labour in North Korea

US student Otto Warmbier has been given 15 years
hard labour in North Korea for crimes against the
state.
Warmbier, 21, was arrested for trying to steal a
propaganda sign from a hotel while visiting North
Korea in January.
He later appeared on state TV apparently confessing
and saying a church group had asked him to bring
back a "trophy" from his trip.
North Korea sometimes uses the detention of
foreigners as a means of exerting pressure on its
adversaries.
The BBC's Stephen Evans in South Korea says the
15-year sentence is high compared to those given to
foreigners in the past.
This could be due to the particularly high tensions
at the moment between North Korea and the US, he
says.
'Worst mistake'
North Korean state news agency KCNA said
Warmbier was convicted under an article of the
criminal code relating to subversion. The verdict was
handed down by the Supreme Court.
Warmbier, a student at the University of Virginia,
was arrested on 2 January as he was trying to leave
North Korea. He was accused of committing "hostile
acts".
KCNA said at the time he had gone to North Korea
"to destroy the country's unity" and that he had
been "manipulated" by the US government.
At the end of February, at a tearful press conference
in Pyongyang, he said he had "committed the crime
of taking down a political slogan from the staff
holding area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel".
"The aim of my task was to harm the motivation
and work ethic of the Korean people. This was a
very foolish aim," he was quoted as saying.
He said it was the "worst mistake" of his life.
North Korea detainees often recant their confessions
once out of the country.
US tourism to North Korea is legal but the US
State Department strongly advises against it.
The sentencing comes a day after veteran US
diplomat Bill Richardson met North Korean officials
at the UN in New York to try to push for
Warmbier's release.
Mr Richardson has previously been involved in
negotiations to secure the release of Americans from
North Korea detention.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the
sentence: "North Korea's sentencing of Otto
Warmbier to 15 years hard labour for a college-style
prank is outrageous and shocking" said Phil
Robertson, deputy director of HRW's Asia division,
in a statement.
North Korean state media took a less lenient view:
"The accused confessed to the serious offense he had
committed against the DPRK, pursuant to the US
government's hostile policy toward it, in a bid to
impair the unity of its people, after entering as a
tourist," reported the KCNA news agency.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
is North Korea's formal name.
North Korea has ramped up its hostile rhetoric in
recent weeks, after the UN imposed some of its
toughest ever sanctions.
The sanctions were a response to the North
conducting its fourth nuclear test and launching a
satellite into space, which was seen as a covert test
of banned missile technology.
Pyongyang has also been angered by the US and
South Korea carrying out their annual military
drills, which this year involve some 315,000
personnel.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has threatened
"indiscriminate" nuclear attacks against the US and
the South, and has said his country will soon test a
nuclear warhead.
However analysts still doubt whether the North has
the capacity to carry out a nuclear attack.