North Korea sentences American student to 15 years hard labor

North Korea’s high court sentenced an American student on Wednesday to 15 years in prison with hard labor after he tearfully confessed to trying to steal a political banner.

{mosads}After a one-hour trial, the court held that Otto Warmbier had committed a crime “pursuant to the U.S. government’s hostile policy toward [the North], in a bid to impair the unity of its people after entering it as a tourist,” according to The Associated Press.

Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate, had been charged with subversion.

On Jan. 2, he was arrested at a Pyongyang airport on his way back to China after a five-day trip.

Last month, he appeared at a North Korean government-arranged press conference and sobbed while he confessed to trying to steal a banner with a political slogan from a Pyongyang hotel.

North Korean state-run media has said Warmbier confessed that a member of his church offered him a $10,000 used car if took the banner and that a secret society at his school also encouraged him to do it.

It’s unclear if Warmbier’s confession was given under duress.

Warmbier’s conviction comes at a time of heightened tension between North Korea and America.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made almost daily threats as U.S. and South Korean military forces conduct large-scale exercises.

Kim also lashed out after the United Nations approved strict new sanctions in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test and missile launch.