Otto Warmbiers family kept his Jewishness under wraps while North Korea held him hostage [View all]

[EllieBC]

WASHINGTON — The family of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died on Monday, days after his release from 17 months of captivity in North Korea, was advised to keep his Jewish background and identity concealed while officials tried to negotiate his release.

That was because the North Korean justification for his imprisonment centered on a dubious claim that Warmbier had stolen a propaganda poster in a Pyongyang hotel lobby on orders from the Friendship United Methodist Church in Wyoming, Ohio, to bring it back “as a trophy” in exchange for a used car worth $10,000.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/otto-warmbiers-family-kept-his-jewishness-under-wraps-while-north-korea-held-him-hostage/