U.S URGES NORTH KOREA TO RELEASE U.S STUDENT,OTTO WARMBIER WHO HAS BEEN SENTENCE TO 15 YEARS IMPRISONMENT

North Korea's sentencing of American student Otto Warmbier to 15 years in prison for taking an item with a propaganda slogan from his hotel was "unduly harsh," the US State Department said on Wednesday as it called for his immediate release.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner urged Pyongyang to pardon Warmbier, grant him amnesty and release him immediately on humanitarian grounds. He also discouraged all US citizens from traveling to North Korea.
Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was detained by theNorthin January for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel in Pyongyang and had confessed to crimes against the state,NorthKorean media said previously.
He was charged with subversion under Article 60 of North Korea's criminal code. The court held that he 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."
Trials for foreigners facing similar charges in North Korea are generally short and punishments severe. Warmbier was arrested as he tried to leave the country in early January. He was in North Korea with a New Year's tour group.
U.S. tourism to North Korea is legal. Arrests of tourists are rare but the U.S. State Department strongly advises against such travel.
Further complicating matters, Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations. The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang acts as a go-between in consular issues when U.S. citizens run afoul of North Korean authorities.