An American citizen by the name of Tony Kim, also known by the Korean name of Kim Sang-duk, was detained while attempting to leave North Korea through Pyongyang International Airport. In January 2016, an American student, Otto Warmbier, was detained at Pyongyang International Airport after allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel. The other members of his tour group, which including several U.S. citizens, were allowed to leave without incident. Hotel security footage allegedly showed Warmbier going into a staff-only area of the hotel and removing the poster from the wall. In March 2016, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, but in June 2017 was released from North Korea, having suspiciously fallen into a coma-like state. He died a few days after being repatriated to the U.S. North Korea claimed that they had nothing to do with his death. The China-based travel company that took Warmbier to North Korea as part of a tourist group stated that it would no longer accept U.S. citizens on its tours to avoid similar incidents. After Americans heard about Warmbier's death, 49% wanted the administration to act, while 35% did not. Of those Americans who wanted action to be taken, the most popular response was for the U.S. to tighten sanctions on North Korea, and the second most popular was a total travel ban between the two countries. United States military action was the least popular response.
an american citizen by the name of tony kim also known by the korean name of kim sang-duk was detained while attempting to leave north korea through pyongyang international airport in january 2016 an american student otto warmbier was detained at pyongyang international airport after allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel the other members of his tour group which including several us citizens were allowed to leave without incident hotel security footage allegedly showed warmbier going into a staff-only area of the hotel and removing the poster from the wall in march 2016 he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor but in june 2017 was released from north korea having suspiciously fallen into a coma-like state he died a few days after being repatriated to the us north korea claimed that they had nothing to do with his death the china-based travel company that took warmbier to north korea as part of a tourist group stated that it would no longer accept us citizens on its tours to avoid similar incidents after americans heard about warmbier's death 49% wanted the administration to act while 35% did not of those americans who wanted action to be taken the most popular response was for the us to tighten sanctions on north korea and the second most popular was a total travel ban between the two countries united states military action was the least popular response