SEOUL: North Korea said on Friday it had arrested a US student who, under orders from Washington, had engaged in an unspecified “hostile act” after entering the country on a tourist visa.

The detention comes at a sensitive time, with the United States taking a leading role in efforts to secure tough international sanctions on North Korea over its latest nuclear test.

Pyongyang has a history of using foreign detainees as bargaining chips to extract concessions and high-profile visits to secure their release.

The student, identified as Otto Frederick Warmbier from the University of Virginia, had entered North Korea as a tourist “for the purpose of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity at the tacit connivance of the US government and under its manipulation,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said. He was detained “while perpetrating a hostile act against the DPRK”, it added, using the official acronym for North Korea.

China-based Young Pioneer Tours, which organises regular trips to North Korea, said Warmbier had been a member of a New Year tour and was arrested when the group was set to return to Beijing on Jan 2.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2015