North Korea sentences 21 year old U.S. student for 15 years of hard labour
 

cliff notes:
A 21 year old University of Virginia student tried to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel.
After 1 hour trial at North Korea's highest court, he was sentenced for 15 years of hard labour.

North Korea sentences U.S. tourist Otto Warmbier to 15 years in prison - World - CBC News

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/wo...sentenced.html

North Korea urged to free US student Otto Warmbier - BBC News

i feel sorry for the kid, 15 years of hard labor not just a prison sentence.

also, what an idiot.

seems like a shitty actor more than a regretful guy.

either the us wont care and will let him rot or world war 3?

Not the greatest time to be in Korea, and it is never a good time to do anything illegal.
That's absolutely insane for a punishment and its rather clear its being done to make a point far outside of the actual "crime".

Hope that kid makes it home because that's just unreal.

I dont see the need to visit north Korea. Specially when you are an American... Just asking for trouble. Hopefully he learns a lesson

he's going to die there.

Hard labour in North Korea? You will feel like slave in Nazi camp.

Here's what "hard labour" is in prison of North Korea. It's not like digging oil sand in Alberta or becoming a heavy duty construction worker in BC.

What?s it like to do ?hard labor? in North Korea? | Foreign Policy
"Eating a diet of mostly corn and salt, they lose their teeth, their gums turn black, their bones weaken and, as they age, they hunch over at the waist," read the report, according to the Washington Post. "Most work 12- to 15-hour days until they die of malnutrition-related illnesses, usually around the age of 50. Allowed just one set of clothes, they live and die in rags, without soap, socks, underclothes or sanitary napkins."

I don't see the reason to feel sorry for the guy, he's in North Korea and knows how they are and he was caught. The guy is a first class idiot and yes the penalty is stupid as fuck but that's North Korea so what else do you expect.

yeah, and North Korea will imprisonate anyone committing a "crime" regardless of your nationality.

Some of the comments on internet say "I don't know how much luck he has to get out of there...only if Donald Trump was the president."

this...we all make mistakes, but why would you ever go to North Korea?

I don't know if I'm lacking sympathy, but this is same as people who go to Syria, Iraq, etc..just to "travel" or check it out, or whatever reason...then turn into a hostage and begging for help.

Damn....15 years. He will be 36 when he gets out. A big part of his life ruined because of a stupid poster.

When you are a guest you follow the rules of the house. This kid is fucking dead as shit. They don't even limit you to being in North Korea as a hard labor slave, they can send you to Russia as a slave and where you end up, you may never be found. If you are foreign, you best believe he's going to get the worst treatments in a slave camp.

This kid has very little chance of ever seeing his family again. While I feel some sympathy but not much, the kid did not do his due diligence and had a self-entitled right to steal shit in a country that has zero tolerance for pretty much anything.

Stupid poster? More like dumbass tourist.

What are you really expecting? You get some kind of cool trophy to tell all your friends about? Tell them how badass you were in NK and stole a sign as a big F.U. to Kim Jong Un?

He deserved it. People that knowingly go into NK as a tourist and try to pull off these dumbass frat boy stunts deserve what's coming to them.

He said he was to be paid 10k for the poster and his family would get 200k if he was caught. Oh and the poster was to be put on the wall of a church.
Anything sound off about that to you? He's not he first church idiot to do something stupid. Another young person left a bible in a bar in the hopes someone would find it and was also arrested. Sorry no sympathy from me. Is the sentence harsh? Of course but you KNOW what the punishment for these types of "crimes" is before you even step foot in that country so if you get caught..... You're a fucking idiot.

A lot of these types of arrests and punishments are posturing from NK. They make high ranking US officials come and get them as a show of force and also a deterrent for future antics of dissent.

Berz out.

Because people want to go out and see the world even if it means going to 3rd world, shithole, authoritarian countries?

Is it a surprise to you some people aren't content with sitting in the front their computers in their comfortable first world homes fapping to pictures of R35s with ugly bodykits?

The kid is an idiot. There are plenty of visitors who went NK and lived to bring back pictures and stories

word has it he was suppose to be paid to bring back the flag he stole...i don't know how much money was involved.....but he knew enough to what it looks like.

edit: looks like berz brought up the whole thing already.

"I have been very impressed by the Korean government's humanitarian treatment of severe criminals like myself and of their very fair and square legal procedures"

:pokerface: ...:lawl:

do you ever feel like a plastic bag

All of the political prisoners have made these statements to "press". They all are given prepared statements which they later recant once they are freed by the US. Obvious use of propaganda from NK.

Berz out.

By all means people are free to do so, but when going to less than friendly parts of the world they need to make themselves aware of the potential risks they're taking and be willing to suffer the consequences if those risks turn into reality. What irritates me are the people who ignore the risk, take it anyways, and then whine and want to be saved when it bites them in the ass.

As Mark Twain said "If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way."

good point.

I do feel that the punishment is quite severe, but I bet a lot people on RS will agree that when you were a kid, you go to someone else's house as a guest, when you come back home, you brag about what you stole from their house.
I bet many of us would've got in huge shit and ass beaten by the parents for doing stupid shit like that.

Kids nowadays just whine and cry so that parents would get annoyed and eventually give up. It's just a speculation but maybe that's his way of getting away from trouble?

Why the hell are people even allowed to go to North Korea? Every time this happens it costs America a lot of time and money to get them out of there.

Play stupid games; win stupid prizes. Fuck him and fuck North Korea.

on the flip side i bet North Korea's government controlled media department is going nuts with this story

"foreigner feels the might of the Supreme Leader and begs for forgiveness"

"American in tears after he beholds the wrath of our Supreme Leader"

they loving this shit and this time, they have it live on camera