Otto F. Warmbier is a 22-year-old college student from the University of Virginia who wanted to travel and have fun. So when he found an advertisement that said “budget travel to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from,” it's safe to say that he was more than excited. His five day tour of North Korea went smoothly but when trying to leave the Pyongyang airport, they detained him for a “hostile act.” After two months, he was convicted to 15 years of hard labor for apparently trying to steal a propaganda poster.
After almost two years, Otto was found ill and in a coma. He was then evacuated from North Korea on Tuesday and to his parents’ home in Cincinnati. According to The New York Times, “His release followed secret negotiations between American officials and the government in Pyongyang that unfolded as tensions escalated over North Korea’s nuclear program. Little is known about Mr. Warmbier’s ordeal in North Korea, where the government refused for more than a year to allow access to him by Swedish consular officials, who act as interlocutors between Washington and Pyongyang.” As North Korea and America do not have diplomatic ties, the only bridge of communication between North Korea and us were Swedish officials, as they handle any business regarding North Korea for us. However, North Korea still denied handing over Otto Warmbier.
As per North Korean officials, Otto apparently contracted botulism, which is a rare and possibly fatal illness that is caused by a toxin, produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. He then slipped into a coma after he had taken a sleeping pill. All of this is going to lead to heightened tensions with North Korea, which is already taking place. According to The New York Times, “President Trump has defined his approach on North Korea as 'maximum pressure and engagement.' He has repeatedly called on China, the North’s only major trading partner, to curtail economic ties with its neighbor to help rein in its nuclear pursuits.”
Relations between North Korea and America are shaky already but after this situation, it is scary to think that this could be what breaks the already thin ice. The relations between the two countries have always been nuclear and many say to stay away from North Korea, both in terms of tourism and enemy wise.
This is not the first time that North Korea has held Americans. Since Warmbier’s release, there are still three American citizens currently known to be held in North Korea, all of them Korean-Americans. According to NBC News, Kim Dong-chul, was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor on charges of spying and other offenses last year. North Korea has also detained Kim Hak-song and Tony Kim, also known as Kim Sang-duk, both Korean-American Christians, on unspecified charges.
With Warmbier's release, what are the chances the remaining three American citizens could be released soon?
