Warmbier Otto Frederick, a student at the University of Virginia, was held for undermining North Korea's unity under the US government's control, Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency said without providing details on when he was arrested.
He is the third Western citizen known to be held in North Korea.
Hyeon Soo Lim, a South Korean-born Canadian who was the head pastor at one of Canada's largest churches, was held by North Korea in February last year. Lim, who was 60 at the time of his arrest, was sentenced to hard labour for life in December for attempting to overthrow the North's regime.
The church has said Lim had visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home.
A Korean-American man, who identified himself as Dong Chul Kim, was detained by North Korea on espionage charges in October last year, according to a CNN report earlier this month.
North Korea has detained numerous foreigners, mainly Americans and evangelical Christians. They were released after serving a short prison term.
In October last year, North Korea released Joo Won-moon, a South Korean man studying at New York University six months after he was arrested for illegal entry through China. He was deported through the inter-Korean border.
Pyongyang still holds three South Korean citizens who were sentenced to life with hard labour on espionage and other charges.
North Kora, which is under an array of international sanctions, has sometimes used detained US citizen as leverae to open dialogue with Washington.
Charles Lim
아주경제 임장원 기자 = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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