(CNN) North Korea has sentenced an American student to 15 years of hard labor after accusing him of removing a political banner from a hotel.
The U.S. State Department fired back Wednesday, saying the punishment doesn't fit the alleged crime.
The sentence against University of Virginia student Otto Frederick Warmbier is "unduly harsh," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, calling for his release.
The United States urges North Korea "to pardon him and to grant him special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds," Toner said.
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Trial reportedly lasted one hour
Warmbier had traveled to Pyongyang on a trip organized by Young Pioneer Tours, a China-based travel company. He was arrested on January 2, 2016, as he was about to board a plane to leave the country, on the charge of committing a hostile act against the state.
The North Korean government alleged that Warmbier was encouraged to commit the "hostile act" by a purported member of a church in his home state of Ohio, a secretive university organization and even the CIA.
In court Wednesday, North Korean officials presented fingerprints, photos of a political banner and surveillance images -- proof, they said, that Warmbier committed crimes against the regime.
The 21-year-old student pleaded for mercy.
"My brother and my sister need me," he said. "I beg that you see that I am only human, how I have made the worst mistake of my life."
Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labor.
Greg Scarlatoui, executive director for the Committee for Humans Rights in North Korea said he may be forced to work in agriculture, which happened with other American prisoners.
"He may spend his day planting apple trees. It will be fairly grueling forced labor," Scarlatoui said.
Warmbier's family declined to comment on his case.
Emotional video confession
In an emotional press conference last month, Warmbier admitted to attempting to steal a banner with a political slogan from his hotel in the North Korean capital. It is not known whether Warmbier made the admission under duress.
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Appearing to read from a statement, he said: "I committed the crime of taking down a political slogan from the staff holding area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel."
Warmbier tearfully confesses to "hostile acts" last month.
"I never, never should have allowed myself to be lured by the United States administration to commit a crime in this country," he said tearfully as he begged for forgiveness.
"I wish that the United States administration never manipulate people like myself in the future to commit crimes against foreign countries. I entirely beg you, the people and government of the DPRK, for your forgiveness. Please! I made the worst mistake of my life!"
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The tour company he traveled with said on its website it is aware of his sentencing and that it should "be viewed in similar context of previous cases of Americans being sentenced" in North Korea.
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Americans detained abroad
Kim Dong Chul, a South Korean-born American citizen detained in North Korea, is escorted to his trial April 29 in Pyongyang. A North Korean court sentenced Kim to 10 years in prison for what it called acts of subversion and espionage. North Korea watchers interpret the detainment of Americans and other foreign citizens as a collection of bargaining chips by the reclusive regime.
University of Virginia student Otto Frederick Warmbier was detained by North Korea after being accused of carrying out "a hostile act" against the government, state media reported. In March, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly removing a political banner from a Pyongyang hotel.
Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post's bureau chief in Tehran,
was released January 16 as part of a prisoner swap. Rezaian
was convicted by an Iranian Revolutionary Court in October, according to Iran's state-run media. Rezaian was reportedly facing up to 20 years, but the sentence was not specified. The journalist was taken into custody in July 2014 and later charged with espionage; the Post has denied all allegations against him. His wife, Yeganeh Salehi, also was detained in July 2014 but later released.
Saeed Abedini, a U.S. citizen of Iranian birth, was
freed as part of a prisoner swap that included Washington Post journalist
Jason Rezaian on January 16. Abedini was
sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013. He was accused of attempting to undermine the Iranian government and endangering national security by establishing home churches. He was detained in Iran on September 26, 2012, according to the American Center for Law and Justice.
Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine charged with spying, was
freed as part of a prisoner swap that included Washington Post journalist
Jason Rezaian on January 16. An Iranian court threw out a 2011 death sentence for
Hekmati, but he was secretly retried in Iran and convicted of "practical collaboration with the U.S. government," his sister told CNN on April 11. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, she said. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 during a visit to see his grandmother. His family and the Obama administration deny accusations he was spying for the CIA.
Siamak Namazi, a Dubai-based businessman with dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship, was
detained while visiting relatives in Tehran, the Wall Street Journal reported October 29, citing unnamed sources. The Washington Post also reported his detention, citing a family friend who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Post reported that it wasn't clear what Namazi is alleged to have done. His detention would bring to five the number of Americans detained or unaccounted for in the Islamic republic.
Scott Darden was
taken hostage by Houthi rebels in Yemen in March 2015. He was captured while working for New Orleans-based Transoceanic Development, according to a source close to his family.
Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson
has been missing since 2007. His family says he was working as a private investigator in Iran when he disappeared, and multiple reports suggest Levinson may have been working for the CIA. His family told CNN that they have long known that Levinson worked for the CIA, and they said it's time for the government to lay out the facts about Levinson's case. U.S. officials have consistently denied publicly that Levinson was working for the government, but they have repeatedly insisted that finding him and bringing him home is a "top" priority.
The FBI increased its reward for information on Levinson from $1 million to $5 million.
Mothers Linda Boyle, left, and Lyn Coleman hold photo of their married children, Joshua Boyle and Caitlin Coleman, who were kidnapped by the Taliban in late 2012. Coleman was pregnant when she was kidnapped and is believed to have had a child in captivity.
Jailed since 2013 and sentenced to life for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Mohamed Soltan
was eventually released, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo said in May 2015. Soltan's family denies he belonged to the Brotherhood. Soltan had been a dual U.S. and Egyptian citizen, but he renounced his Egyptian citizenship as a condition of his release.
One of three Americans detained in North Korea, Jeffrey Edward Fowle was released and sent home, a State Department official told CNN in October 2014. Fowle was accused of leaving a Bible in a hotel where he was staying. North Korea announced Fowle's detention in June of that year, saying he had violated the law by acting "contrary to the purpose of tourism." Fowle told CNN: "I've admitted my guilt to the government and signed a statement to that effect and requested forgiveness from the people and the government of the DPRK."
In May 2013, a North Korean court sentenced Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen, to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the state. North Korea claimed Bae was part of a Christian plot to overthrow the regime. In a short interview with CNN in September 2014, Bae said he is working eight hours a day, six days a week at a labor camp. "Right now what I can say to my friends and family is, continue to pray for me," he said. After months in detention, he and fellow American detainee Matthew Todd Miller were
released in November.
Miller, an American sentenced to six years of hard labor in North Korea, was one of three Americans who spoke to CNN's Will Ripley in September 2014 and implored the U.S. government for help. The 24-year-old was accused of tearing up his tourist visa and seeking asylum upon entry to North Korea.
American journalist Peter Theo Curtis was
handed over to U.N. peacekeepers in August 2014 after nearly two years in captivity. He is believed to have been captured in October 2012 and held by the al-Nusra Front, a Syrian rebel group with ties to al Qaeda.
Alan Gross, at right with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, was jailed while working as a subcontractor in Cuba in December 2009. Cuban authorities say Gross tried to set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was just trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Former President Jimmy Carter and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson both traveled to Cuba on Gross' behalf. He was eventually
released in December.
This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held by insurgents in Afghanistan since 2009. The White House
announced Bergdahl's release on May 31, 2014. Bergdahl was released in exchange for five senior Taliban members held by the U.S. military. In March 2015,
the U.S. military charged Bergdahl with one count each of "Desertion with Intent to Shirk Important or Hazardous Duty," and "Misbehavior Before The Enemy by Endangering the Safety of a Command, Unit or Place."
U.S. tourist and Korean War veteran Merrill Newman arrives at the Beijing airport on December 7, 2013, after being released by North Korea. Newman was
detained in October 2013 by North Korean authorities just minutes before he was to depart the country after visiting through an organized tour. His son Jeff Newman said the Palo Alto, California, man had all the proper paperwork and set up his trip through a North Korean-approved travel agency.
Mexican authorities arrested Yanira Maldonado, a U.S. citizen, right, in May 2013, for alleged drug possession. She and her husband, Gary, were traveling from Mexico back to the United States when their bus was stopped and searched. She was released a few days later and is now back in the United States.
North Korea has arrested Americans before, only to release them after a visit by a prominent dignitary. Journalists Laura Ling, center, and Euna Lee, to her left, spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry to conduct a smear campaign. They were
freed in 2009 after a trip by former President Bill Clinton.
Former President Jimmy Carter
negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was detained in 2010 after crossing into North Korea illegally from China. Analysts say high-level visits give Pyongyang a propaganda boost and a way to save face when it releases a prisoner.
Detained in April 2011, Eddie Yong Su Jun
was released by North Korea a month afterward. His alleged crime was not provided to the media. The American delegation that
secured his freedom included Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues.
Without any apparent U.S. intervention, Robert Park was released by North Korea in 2010. The Christian missionary crossed into North Korea from China, carrying a letter asking Kim Jong Il to free political prisoners and resign. North Korea's state-run news agency said
Park was released after an "admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings." Here, Park holds a photo of Kim and a malnourished child during a protest in Seoul.
Josh Fattal, center; Sarah Shourd, left; and Shane Bauer were detained by Iran while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009. Iran charged them with illegal entry and espionage. Shourd was released on bail for medical reasons in September 2010; she never returned to face her charges. Bauer and Fattal were convicted in August 2011, but the next month they were
released on bail and had their sentences commuted.
Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, was detained at Iran's Evin Prison, spending months in solitary confinement before
Iran released her on bail in August 2007. Esfandiari was visiting her ailing mother in Tehran when she was arrested and charged with harming Iran's national security.
Sixteen Americans were among the dozens arrested in December 2011 when Egypt raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations that it said received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a public license. Many of the employees posted bail and left the country after a travel ban was lifted a few months later. Robert Becker, right,
chose to stay and stand trial. He spent two years in prison and has since returned to the United States.
Filmmaker Timothy Tracy
was arrested in Venezuela in April 2013 on allegations of funding opponents of newly elected President Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late Hugo Chavez. Tracy went to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country. He was released in June 2013.
On Wednesday, the State Department spokesman accused North Korea of politicizing the arrests of U.S. citizens, saying, "It's increasingly clear from its very public treatment of these cases."
Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller are the most recent American detainees whom North Korea has released.
Both were accused of perpetrating "hostile acts" against North Korea; Miller spent less than a year in custody after being sentenced to six years of hard labor, and Bae, facing a 15-year sentence, was held for nearly two years.
The pair secured their freedom in late 2014.
North Korea launches rocket
The Kwangmyongsong carrier rocket blasted off from the Sohae launch facility at 9 a.m Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET Saturday), entering orbit nine minutes and 46 seconds after liftoff, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported.
A state TV newsreader said the operation had been personally ordered and directed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
State media reported that more satellite launches were planned.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the launch "deeply deplorable" and in violation of Security Council resolutions "despite the united plea of the international community against such an act.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looked on as the rocket blasted off.
State media captures a moment on the rocket at lift off.
The United States, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, Britain and France, as well as the European Union and NATO, were swift to condemn the action.
An official photograph shows the control room.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told The New York Times he met with two North Korean diplomats on Tuesday to lobby for Warmbier's release.
Richardson is a longtime diplomat and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has also been pushing behind the scenes for Warmbier's release, an aid to the governor told CNN.
Analysts say it's possible Warmbier will be released at some point, but very likely Kim Jong Un's regime could use the student as leverage -- and will want a VIP from the United States to travel to North Korea to get him.
Dean's list student, star soccer player
Warmbier was on the dean's list at the University of Virginia, CNN affiliate WCPO-TV reported.
He was also part of a student organization that "trains young professionals for careers in investment management and other functions within the financial markets," according to the group's website.
Kieren Thomas, a friend of Warmbier's younger brother, told CNN in January that the detained student was a star soccer player in high school, outgoing and loved to travel to out-of-the-way places.
"Otto was one of the smartest guys I've ever met," Thomas said. "I've never met a person that had a bad thing to say about him."
Heightened tensions
Tensions have been particularly fraught on the Korean Peninsula in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered tests of a nuclear warhead in the "nearest future," state-run news agency KCNA said. The order came after the U.N. Security Council imposed tough sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test in January and satellite launch the following month.
Last week, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea.
The aggravation comes during eight weeks of joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, billed as the largest ever.
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CNN's Will Ripley, Joshua Berlinger, Hilary Whiteman and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.