#604 | Otto Warmbier: The American Tourist Who Never Came Home (English Listening Practice)
English Learning for Curious Minds | A More Interesting Way To Learn English

#604 | Otto Warmbier: The American Tourist Who Never Came Home (English Listening Practice)

B2Upper-intermediateApril 9, 202625 min
  • Politics

In 2016, a 21-year-old American student was arrested in North Korea after allegedly stealing a political poster. Weeks later, he appeared in a strange public confession and was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labour. Seventeen months on, he returned home in a coma, raising disturbing questions about what really happened behind closed doors. Otto Warmbier detained at Pyongyang airport after tour.Background on North Korea’s strict control and harsh punishments.Claimed theft of political banner; confession likely forced.Evidence doubts: grainy CCTV, timing issues, unlikely church plot.One-hour trial; sentenced to fif...

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Sentence 12 of 12 · 0:58

And in the final part, part three, we'll talk about

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  • C10:58
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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 25%A2 35%B1 27%B2 12%C1 2%
  • 86% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 122 words a minute: slow, clear speech.
  • 127 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

Hello, hello, hello and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds by Leonardo English, the show where you can listen to fascinating stories and learn weird and wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English. I'm Alastair Budge and today it's the start of another three-part mini-series

0:28

this time on the theme of stories from North Korea. In part one, this episode we'll be talking about Otto Warmbier, the 21-year-old American student who went on a trip to North Korea and returned unrecognizable.

0:46

In part two we'll talk about the daylight murder of Kim Jong-un's brother in Kuala Lumpur Airport. And in the final part, part three, we'll talk about Kim Jong-il's obsession with cinema and how this led him to kidnap one of South Korea's

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