Otto Warmbier, the former University of Virginia student who returned home to the U.S. last week after spending more than a year imprisoned in North Korea, died on Monday afternoon, his family said.
“Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,” his parents said in a statement.
Warmbier landed in the U.S. on June 13 unable to speak, see or react to verbal commands, the statement added. Doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center characterized his state as one of “unresponsive wakefulness,” they said on Thursday.
North Korea also sent MRI images of Warmbier’s brain, dated April 2016. The photos indicated his injury likely occurred before the scans were taken ― meaning he had been suffering since the beginning of his imprisonment.
Warmbier was in North Korea with a tour group when he was detained for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster from a hotel. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March of 2016 after a tear-filled confession on camera in a North Korean courtroom. The White House and human rights groups condemned Warmbier’s imprisonment, calling for his immediate release.
Intelligence reports suggested that he had been beaten so badly while in custody that there were fears he had died, a U.S. intelligence official told The New York Times.
President Donald Trump directed the State Department to secure Warmbier’s release, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week. North Korea said they released him for what they called “humanitarian reasons.”
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Post a Comment