North Korea - you can love them, you can loathe them, but you cannot ignore them. In their latest attempt to attract the attention of the world (for all the wrong reasons, of course), North Korea has sentenced an American national to 15 years of hard labour for apparently stealing a propaganda sign from a hotel. The USA has responded to the news, demanding the immediate release of the student convicted in Pyongyang. Otto Frederick Warmbier, a 21-year-old student from the University of Virginia, was convicted of subversive activities and sentenced by North Korea's Supreme Court, the North's official KCNA news agency said. On the other side of the globe, White House spokesman Josh Earnest charged that North Korea was using US citizens as "pawns to pursue a political agenda" and urged it to free him. "We strongly encourage the North Korean government to pardon him and grant him special amnesty and immediate release," said Earnest. "The allegations for which this individual was arrested and imprisoned would not give rise to arrest or imprisonment in the United States or in just about any other country in the world."

North Korea loves attention from the US

In the past, North Korea has used the detention of US citizens to obtain high-profile visits from the likes of former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton in order to secure their release. The US State Department "strongly recommends against all travel" to North Korea and specifically warns of the risk of arrest.