North Korea has held many a brutal welcome to any American brave enough to step foot into their country.
Fred and Cindy Warmbier apologized on North Korean state television on Monday for plotting to steal a political banner, in a desperate attempt to have their kidnapped son returned to them. The University of Virginia student Otto F. Warmbier, was seized by Koren Police on January 2nd while, he was leaving an organized tour of North Korea.
Warmbier was in hysterics during a televised broadcast of his apology. He sobbed and pleaded for the police to let him go, while admitting that he had made “the worst mistake of his life” by stealing the banner from the anti-American government. But according to North Korea’s state media, he committed an anti-state crime.
Warmbier’s parents appeared just as emotional in their televised apology on Monday for having been a part of the plot to steal the banner. They haven’t been permitted to see their son since his arrest and in their statement begged that he be released. “Our top priority is to get him back home with us as quickly as possible,” they said to University of Virginia’s communications office after their television appearance.
The Warmbiers are desperate to put their family back together and feel that these apologies will appeal to the North Korean government’s sensibilities, however there is reason to believe that these statements were scripted by Warmbier’s captures.
The statements made by Mr. Warmbier account events that inevitably never took place, such as the story that he offered a $10,000 car and would be paid $200,000 if he were caught arrested, or that he would be granted entrance into a club called the Z Society at his school if he succeeded in stealing the banner. Students of the university find this unlikely given the Z Society’s well-known involvement in charity.
There has been a large number of arrests of American citizens in North Korea thanks to disagreements between the two governments. As of now, Americans are advised to avoid travel to Korea based on this. Whether Warmbier has been able to regain contact with his family is unknown as of this time.