Tag: north korea

Categories
News

In brief: Eye-popping turnout, cereal beat-in and more

Dem Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie won their primaries with record turnout. Submitted photos

Get out the vote

The big news in the 2017 primary was record turnout for a non-presidential primary. Democrats were particularly energized, significantly topping their last gubernatorial primary in 2009. While not as many Republicans showed up, the GOP’s turnout topped 2009 as well.

Governor primary turnout

Democrats:

2017: 542,812 voters

2009: 319,168 voters

  • Up 70%

Republicans:

2017: 366,100 voters

2005: 175,170 voters

  • Up 108%

City Council primary turnout

2017: 8,522 voters

2015: 3,251 voters

  • Up 162%

City Council race: the numbers

Amy Laufer

$19,620 in donations

6,253 votes

46% of vote

Heather Hill

$18,055 in donations

4,597 votes

34% of vote

Bob Fenwick

$3,439 in donations

2,722 votes

20% of vote

Hill-Laufer-Platania
Heather Hill, Amy Laufer and Joe Platania move on to the November elections. Submitted photos

Commonwealth’s attorney race: the numbers

Joe Platania

$18,566 in donations

4,900 votes

62% of vote

Jeff Fogel

$6,335 in donations

2,976 votes

38% of vote

Tragic ending to an already sad story

ottoWarmbierOtto Warmbier, the UVA student detained and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea for allegedly stealing a political banner, died June 19 in a Cincinnati hospital—nearly a week after he was medically evacuated from the Asian country in a coma, which officials said he had been in for more than a year.

“North Korea is among the most heinous actors on the global stage. The case of Mr. Warmbier reminds us of the barbarism of the North Korean regime.”—U.S. Representative Tom Garrett

Another UVA rape allegation

Dalton Baril
Charlottesville police

The grandson of former Republican Virginia governor John Dalton, former UVA student Dalton Baril, 20, of Richmond, was charged with rape and forcible sodomy for a February 1 incident with another student that left her bruised and bloody, according to the Washington Post. Dalton turned himself in to the magistrate’s office June 14. He was released on $10,000 bond and will appear again in August.

Taxing decisions

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance last week to require short-term rental owners to pay the same lodging taxes as hotels and other homestays. The ordinance also requires owners, such as Airbnb hosts, to get a business license if they make more than $5,000 per year off their rental.

Former cop indicted

Christopher Seymore was an officer with the Charlottesville Police Department when he allegedly forced a local woman—and witness to a crime—to perform oral sex on him twice. A grand jury indicted him June 19 on two counts of sodomy. His trial is scheduled for December 7.

Legal Aid appeals DMV suit

Despite being rebuffed twice by a federal district judge, Legal Aid Justice Center is appealing the decision that the DMV is not a proper defendant in Stinnie v. Holcomb, arguing that it unlawfully suspends licenses of the indigent for failure to pay court costs with no consideration of their ability to do so.

In memory

WillowTree Apps, Inc. announced June 15 a $10,000 scholarship in honor of beloved former employee Whitney French, who was killed by her husband in a February murder-suicide. Applications for the scholarship, which aims to support women in the field of digital user experience and design, are due by December 9.

Trix are for kids

kesslerproudboysbeatin
Jason Kessler rattles off his breakfast cereals so he can be a member of the Proud Boys.

Whites-rights provocateur Jason Kessler and three others proclaimed, “I’m a proud western chauvinist,” and then were beaten in an alley until they could name five cereals in a Proud Boys video posted over the weekend. The “cereal beat-in” is the second initiation step to joining the Proud Boys, a masculinist fraternity for grown men that’s a self-proclaimed “alt-light” org. Matching polo shirts, a tattoo, abstention from masturbation and beating up an antifa are the next steps in joining the group, according to Southern Poverty Law Center.

Members were on the Downtown Mall June 17, and were refused service in several restaurants, including Violet Crown Cinema and Cinema Taco. In retaliation, Cinema Taco was hit with a barrage of one-star reviews on Yelp.

Unlike previous Kessler gatherings on the mall when Showing Up for Racial Justice members shouted at him, there was no chanting, but individuals on the mall did confront the group, and at one point, when they left, people applauded, according to WINA’s Dori Zook.

Categories
News

UVA student sentenced to prison in North Korea

Caption Otto Warmbier was paraded before media in North Korea after his conviction for “hostile acts.” Photo from ABC News

UVA third-year Otto Warmbier, 21, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea March 16 for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster from the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, where he was staying as part of a tourist group arranged by Young Pioneer Tours.

Todd Sechser, an associate professor in the Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics at the University of Virginia, says that since 2009, about one or two American citizens have been detained every year by North Korea for political reasons and he outlines the main goals in such arrests.

“The North Koreans typically gain two things from these episodes,” Sechser says in an e-mail. “First, usually there is a visit from a high-level U.S. official or former president. Second, North Korea often claims an apology from the U.S. negotiator, which then is usually denied by the United States. Both the visit and alleged apology allow the North Korean government to score political points at home for antagonizing the United States.”

Warmbier was shown tearfully admitting to the attempted theft in a North Korean court. According to CNN, he had wanted the poster as a trophy for a church member in Ohio, and allegedly said the Z Society, a secret society at UVA, had encouraged him to steal the poster in exchange for membership.

The West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church says in a press release, “We hope and pray for forgiveness by the North Korea officials for any perceived transgressions by the young man, and for his quick and safe return to his family.” The release adds that other comments would not be “appropriate or helpful” at this time.

Despite Warmbier’s confessions, Sechser says it is difficult to confirm whether he actually committed a crime or not.

“It is standard practice for North Korea to parade detainees in front of the media. Warmbier’s confession was undoubtedly coerced. Prior detainees have reported that their North Korean captors choreographed their confessions down to the smallest detail,” Sechser says.

He also notes that the charges against Warmbier are “unusual,” with most Americans detained for illegal entry or religious activity.

Although the 21-year-old faces a 15-year sentence, Sechser says that even in cases with heavy sentences, “these detentions usually last a few months or less.”

Friends of Warmbier’s declined comment in keeping with the family’s wishes for privacy.

 

Categories
News

Detained UVA student faces North Korean press

UVA's rotunda. File photo.

The UVA student detained in North Korea last month for allegedly committing a “hostile act” against the country publicly apologized for making “the worst mistake of [his] life” February 29 at a government-arranged news conference in Pyongyang.

Otto Franklin Warmbier, a third-year commerce student, Echols scholar and Theta Chi fraternity brother, was visiting North Korea with the Chinese travel agency Young Pioneer Tours when he was arrested at an airport on the last day of his trip.

The UVA student admitted to taking a banner with an “important political slogan” from a staff-only area of his hotel, the Yanggakdo International, on January 1. Charges against him say he was encouraged to take the banner by a member of an Ohio church, a secretive university organization and the C.I.A., according to the New York Times.

In his statement, Warmbier said he attempted to take the banner as a trophy for a member of a church who wanted to hang it on the church’s wall. He identified the church as the Friendship United Methodist Church in Wyoming, Ohio, and said the church member agreed to buy Warmbier a used car worth $10,000 for bringing back the banner, or pay his mother $200,0000 if Warmbier was detained and didn’t return, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Warmbier added that a member of UVA’s secret Z Society also encouraged him to take the banner and promised him membership in the society.

“I beg that you see how I was used and manipulated,” Warmbier said at the news conference, according to CNN. “I was used by the United States administration like many before.”

In a video of the conference, edited and posted by the Associated Press, Warmbier can be seen sobbing and pleading for his release.

“I am begging to the Korean people and government for my forgiveness,” he said, adding that he has no idea what kind of penalty he could face.

Categories
News

Little information released about UVA student arrested in North Korea

UVA's Rotunda. File photo

A University of Virginia student is currently detained in North Korea for allegedly committing a “hostile act” against the country.

Otto Franklin Warmbier, a third-year commerce student, Echols scholar and Theta Chi fraternity brother, was visiting North Korea with the Chinese travel agency Young Pioneer Tours, which markets itself as providing “budget tours to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from.”

The agency did not respond to an inquiry, but confirmed on its blog January 22 that one of its clients is being detained in Pyongyang. Young Pioneer Tours also said the agency has been in contact with the Swedish Embassy, which acts as the protecting interest for U.S. citizens and is working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address the case.

The U.S. Department of State has confirmed that it will work with the Swedish Embassy to ensure the student’s welfare.

The Washington Post reported Warmbier was detained January 2 at a Pyongyang airport as he was leaving North Korea after a five-day New Year’s Eve trip. Spokesperson Anthony deBrun says UVA “has been in touch with Otto Warmbier’s family and will have no additional comment at this time.”

A statement from the Korean Central News Agency, released January 22, says Warmbier “was arrested while perpetrating a hostile act” against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “after entering it under the guise of tourist for the purpose of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity at the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation,” but did not release any specifics.

Several of Warmbier’s family and friends did not immediately respond to an interview request.