N. Korea frees long-detained American university student: report

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has freed a long-detained American university student, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was quoted as saying Tuesday.

Tillerson also said that Otto Warmbier was on his way back to the U.S., according to U.S. news reports.

Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was arrested in January 2016 while on a trip to the North for allegedly stealing a political propaganda sign from a hotel. He had been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

jschang@yna.co.kr
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