it did not give further details , but said .
state news agency kcna identified him as university of virginia student otto frederick warmbier .
otto frederick warmbier , 21 , of the university of virginia , was in north korea for a five - day new year trip and was detained at pyongyang airport on jan. 2 ahead of a flight back to china , said gareth johnson of young pioneer tours , which organized the visit .
the us state department is " aware of media reports that a us citizen was detained in north korea " and is working with its protecting power , the swedish embassy in pyongyang , deputy spokesperson mark toner said .
otto frederick warmbier was detained january 2 in pyongyang , according to young pioneer tours , the china - based travel company that organized his trip .
he had entered north korea as a tourist visa , is accused of carrying out " a hostile act against the dprk , " referring to the democratic people 's republic of north korea .
seoul ( reuters ) - north korea has detained a u.s. government ” .
u.s. rep. brad wenstrup , whose district includes the area where warmbier went to high school , tweeted on friday that his office was image copyright facebook north korea but gave no other details , citing privacy concerns .
image copyright ap image caption the incident follows escalating tensions with rivals including the us and south korea detained on tour china - based tour agency young pioneer tours released story highlights detained student was a high school salutatorian , cnn affiliate reports otto frederick warmbier is a student at the university of virginia a chinese travel company says warmbier was detained january 2 in in pyongyang ( cnn ) a university of virginia college student from cincinnati has been detained in north korea after being accused of a " hostile act " against the government there .