Otto Frederick Warmbier

Otto Frederick Warmbier released from North Korea prison is dead. The 22 year old arrived from North Korea in a coma. He was arrested for stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel, and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in the North Korea prison.

               

The family of Otto appreciated the staff of the hospital for the care they provided for Otto;

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.

It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost – future time that won’t be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds.

But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person. You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched – Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two – that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family.

North Korea claimed that the American had botulism, and never woke up after taking a sleeping pill, but doctors in Cincinnati claimed that this not true, and Otto has shown no sign of botulism since in arriving in the US, but he had suffered severe neurological injury, and he is in a state of unresponsiveness wakefulness.

 

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Otto Wambier arrested in North Korea last year, has now been released from the North Korean prison, and he arrives the United States on Tuesday, but according to the Dr. Daniel Kanter, medical director of the neuroscience intensive care unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where he is getting treatment, Otto is stable " but "shows no sign of understanding language, responding to verbal commands or awareness of his surroundings."

                     

Otto has been in a coma since 2016, after he was sentenced to 15 years in NK prison after stealing an item that bears a propaganda slogan. 

North Korea releasing statements on Otto release says that the country is releasing him "on humanitarian grounds."

Fred Wambier speaking on his son ill-health said that the North Korea regime has "brutalized and terrorized" his son. He said he does not believe in the North Korea statement that he had fallen into coma after contracting botulism, and was given a sleeping pill.

Doctors in the US have confirmed that there is no sign of botulism in Otto's system, but Kanter said that he had suffered "extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of the brain," but won't give more details of his prognosis on the request of Otto's family.

Last month, the US congress introduced a bill that will stop American citizens from traveling to North Korea as tourists, and special visits will require special permission. 

Around 17 Americans are in jail in the North Korea facility.

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Otto Frederick Warmbier,21, an American student, University of Virginia who travelled with a Chinese tour group have been arrested and detained in North Korea for "perpetrating  a hostile act" against the regime. The statement was released by the Korean Central News Agency that Otto was arrested for trying to destroy the unity of North Korean with  "the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its control."  

                   

The US embassy in South Korea confirmed the report, and said it is working with the Swedish embassy, who helps in diplomatic relations with North Korea.

The tour group, "The young pioneer Tour Group" who organised the tour that Otto had followed also confirmed the report via their website, and have also confirmed to be working with the family of Otto in getting him back to his family. They have also requested for privacy for Otto and his family.

Otto Frederick Warmbier is a third year student of commerce student at the University of Virginia.

Earlier this year, North Korea detained another American citizen, Kim Dong Chul, on suspicion of spying. The government accused Chul of spying and stealing state secret.

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