Fears US student thrown into North Korea hellhole jail one year ago is being kept for nuke negotiations with Donald Trump
Otto Warmbier, 21, was sentenced to 15 years hard labour for trying to steal propaganda banner
FEARS are growing a US student thrown into a North Korean hellhole jail exactly a year ago is to be used by desperate despot Kim Jong-un as part of his nuclear negotiations with the West.
There's been very little word heard about what has exactly happened to 21-year-old Otto Warmbier amid mounting US concerns about the hostile rogue state's rapidly expanding nuclear missile development programme.
It's now feared tyrant Kim will use the student's dire situation as an 'ace up his sleeve' during any sanctions negotiations with the UN and Donald Trump's new administration.
North Korea announced last January it had detained Warmbier, a University of Virginia student from suburban Cincinnati, earlier that month for an alleged 'anti-state' crime.
Warmbier, who had visited with a tour group, was sentenced to 15 years hard labour after a televised tearful public confession to trying to steal a propaganda banner.
He said he wanted to take the banner home for a woman in Ohio who wanted to hang it in her church.
Now his ongoing detention is seen by some in Washington as having political motives ahead of possible sanctions being enforced to bring an end to more nuclear weapons being developed in Kim's kingdom.
The State Department calls Warmbier's sentence "unduly harsh," and claims it continues to work for the "earliest possible release."
A spokesman said: "We continue to urge the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of North Korea) to pardon him and grant him special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds."
Already at odds over its nuclear tests and missile launches, North Korea in July called US sanctions aimed directly at Kim and other top leaders for human rights abuses the equivalent of declaring war.
Diplomats inquiring about Warmbier have been told they were being treated under "wartime law."
The Warmbier family and people in contact with them have been cautious about commenting on the sensitive situation.
A spokeswoman for Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich said he continues to be "very concerned" about Warmbier and discussed him during a White House visit in late 2016.
The spokeswoman, Emmalee Kalmbach, said Kasich has encouraged USauthorities to keep the Warmbier family informed.
Warmbier's parents said after his public confession last February that they hadn't been able to communicate with him, and his father, Fred, expressed hope his son's "sincere apology" would persuade North Korea to allow him to come home.
The statement was released through the University of Virginia.
Although there has been scant news on Warmbier since his sentencing, his situation could re-emerge as Donald Trump's administration begins dealing with North Korea.
He has said he will push China to exert its influence on North Korea to bring it into line, but Trump also said during his presidential campaign that he would be willing to meet with Kim Jong-un.
There's little doubt North Korea would like to use Warmbier to get a US president to travel to "kowtow and ask for him back," said Boston University Professor Emeritus Walter Clemens, whose extensive writings on North Korea include two books.
But there's always the hope that such a meeting could open a way to improving current tensions, he said.
"It's obviously very terrible for the family and for Mr. Warmbier," said Clemens, a Cincinnati native. "But he could conceivably be the bridge for establishing a rapprochement between the United States and North Korea."
