‘Rare Footage’ Of North Korea Military Parade Posted By Tour Company Otto Warmbier Used

The tour group that took American student Otto Warmbier into North Korea has posted a rare video from the country’s military parade earlier this month.

The company, Young Pioneer Tours, posted the video on YouTube Saturday with the title, “Rare, unseen footage of North Korean military parade 2018 (foreign media forbidden).”

The military parade on Feb. 8 celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of North Korean People’s Army. The celebration typically happens in April but was moved up to one day before the start of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. North Korea, in a diplomatic breakthrough, participated in the Olympics, allaying international fears that the country would attempt to disrupt them.

The parade was more subdued than previous parades, and foreign press was largely excluded from the affair, another departure from parades in the past. The parade displayed tanks, troops and ballistic missiles. It’s typically carried live on North Korean television, but this year was aired at a later time and edited. It is not clear why the parade — a show of military might and strength — was moved to just before the Olympics, while downplayed at the same time. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un did not mention the Olympics in his speech made in conjunction with the parade.

Young Pioneer Tours decided to stop taking U.S. tourists into North Korea after the Warmbier incident. In December 2015, Warmbier joined 10 other Americans as part of a tour of North Korea. He allegedly attempted to steal a propaganda poster while in the country and was put on trial for “hostile acts against the state,” and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in January 2016.

In June 2017, the 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the U.S. and died six days later in Cincinnati. While in captivity, he had suffered an injury or sickness that left him comatose. Warmbier’s medical team said that he suffered from an extensive loss of brain tissue that mirrored the injuries of cardiopulmonary arrest. North Korean officials claimed that he contracted a case of botulism.

Young Pioneer Tours has received criticism for the incident.

“They advertise it as the safest tour ever. But they provide fodder for the North Koreans. They took him hostage. And the outcome is self-evident,” said Warmbier’s father, Fred Warmbier, last year.

On the company’s website, it displays the credo “Young Pioneer Tours specialize in taking you to North Korea and other worldwide 'destinations your mother would rather you stay away from' at budget prices.” It also prominently displays a “certificate of excellence” from TripAdvisor for the years 2014-2017.

TripAdvisor awards the certificates based on an algorithm from user submitted reviews. In a statement to International Business Times, the TripAdvisor said that it doesn't endorse individual companies, but rather provides a platform for travelers to review other companies.

Under the frequently asked questions page for North Korea, it calls the country “one of the safest places on Earth to visit provided you follow the laws.”

It also states that its new policy of no longer taking Americans into North Korea.

“Recent cases of severe unwarranted consequences for American detainees in North Korea means we now consider the risk to Americans visiting North Korea to be too high and as such we can no longer accept Americans traveling,” the site reads.

While some American travelers have reported a pleasant experience in the country, the U.S. State Department issued a ban on Americans traveling to North Korea last year.

Warmbier’s death came amid a particularly tense period in U.S.- North Korea relation. North Korea in 2017 tested several intercontinental ballistic missiles that demonstrated the theoretical ability to hit the U.S.

President Donald Trump threatened the country’s destructions several times over the weapons test.

While North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics has been a detente for the North and South, relations with the U.S. remains strained.

Young Pioneer Tours did not immediately respond to request for comment from International Business Times.

This article has been updated to include comments from TripAdvisor.