Dramatic US Student Mea Culpa Staged By North Korea

A detained American student tearfully apologised for attempting to steal a political banner in North Korea from his hotel after being paraded in front of the media in Pyongyang.

Otto Warmbier, 21, an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, was arrested in January for committing what North Korea called "an anti-state crime" with "the tacit connivance of the US government and under its manipulation".

Warmbier said on Monday that he wanted the banner with a political slogan on it as a trophy for a church back home. He said that he was offered a second-hand car worth $10,000 and was told if he was arrested and did not return, $200,000 would be paid to his mother.

In previous cases, people who have been detained in North Korea and given a public confession often recant those admissions after their release.