North Korea releases jailed US student

Otto Warmbier, an American college student jailed in North Korea, was released on Tuesday, according to his parents.

"He is being medivacked to the US. The brutalisation and terrorism the North Koreans have put upon Otto and the Warmbier family have ended. Thank God," Warmbier's parents told CNN.

Warmbier was detained in January 2016 at the airport in Pyongyang on his way home from a visit to the reclusive country.

North Korean authorities said they had security footage of him trying to steal a banner containing a political slogan that was hanging from the walls of his Pyongyang hotel.

That was used as evidence in his hour-long trial, during which North Korea accused him of committing "hostile acts" against the regime. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour.

The news of Warmbier's release comes the same day as American basketball star Dennis Rodman arrived in Pyongyang for an expected four-night visit.

--IANS

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