American tourist sentenced to 15 years in North Korean prison

Barbed wire near the DMZ.
(Image credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

A 21-year-old University of Virginia student has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a North Korean prison.

Otto Warmbier was convicted and sentenced by the country's highest court on Wednesday, following a one-hour trial, The Associated Press reports. Warmbier was charged with subversion after he allegedly tried to steal a propaganda poster from a restricted area in the hotel where he was staying while visiting the country with a tour group in January.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.