University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, said to be in a coma, released from North Korea

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post



By Anne Fifield June 13 at 9:45 AM

TOKYO – University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, who has been detained in North Korea for 17 months, has been medically evacuated from the country in a coma, his parents told The Washington Post Tuesday.

Warmbier, who is 22, is due to arrive home in Cincinnati on Tuesday evening, having been evacuated through an American military base in Sapporo, Japan.

Warmbier had been in a coma for more than a year, since shortly after his last public appearance: during his trial in Pyongyang in March last year.

“Our son is coming home,” Fred Warmbier told The Washington Post Tuesday morning after Otto had been evacuated from North Korea. “At the moment, we’re just treating this like he’s been in an accident. We get to see our son Otto tonight.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/university-of-virginia-student-otto-warmbier-in-a-coma-released-from-north-korea/2017/06/13/febba10a-503d-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f_story.html

[joeybee12]

1. That sucks

Wonder if well ever find out what happened

[tblue37]

2. My guess is that they beat him. nt

[joeybee12]

3. Unfortunately, I agree. Nt

[Tanuki]

5. Or poisoned. Either way, it sounds extremely grim.

"The Warmbiers were told that he had come down with a case of botulism soon after his trial – which lasted only one hour – and had been given a sleeping pill, from which he never woke up.

There is no way of knowing yet whether the North Korean version of events is true, but the Warmbiers have been told their son had been in a coma the whole time. State Department officials are accompanying Otto from Sapporo to Cincinnatti.


North Korea has woefully inadequate medical care and it is not clear how North Korean doctors had been caring for Warmbier during more than a year in an unconscious state." (From the OP link)

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

7. Maybe when American doctors look at him they can figure out what happened.

I hope they can help him.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. U.Va. student freed after 17 months of imprisonment

North Korea releases Otto Warmbier

U.Va. student freed after 17 months of imprisonment
by Tim Dodson | Jun 13 2017 | 21 minutes ago

University student Otto Warmbier has been released from North Korea, the Associated Press first reported Tuesday morning. AP attributed this information to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Warmbier was detained in North Korea on Jan. 2, 2016 as he prepared to leave a five-day tour of the country. He was accused of attempting to steal a political banner from a staff-only area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang — a grave crime in a country where the ruling family is considered sacrosanct.

He had traveled to North Korea with Young Pioneer Tours, which is a tourism company that offers “budget travel to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from.”

In February 2016 Warmbier confessed to trying to take the banner and the North Korean Supreme Court sentenced Warmbier to 15 years of hard labor in March of the same year.

There were few updates to Warmbier’s case following the sentencing, although after he passed one year of imprisonment, his parents began to express their frustration with the slow process of getting their son released in numerous interviews this past spring.

So far, the Charlottesville Daily Progress is running the Associated Press story:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says North Korea releases American serving a 15-year prison term with hard labor.

Link to tweet

[ucrdem]

6. Hard labor, holy sh#t

I hope he recovers.