In October of 2015, Otto Warmbier, a then 21-year-old college student from the University of Virginia, was taking a study-abroad trip to China. While he was there, he saw a group offering trips to North Korea, which advertised safety for U.S. citizens. Warmbier, being adventurous and curious, took the trip to North Korea, where he stayed at a hotel. While there, he was accused of supposedly stealing a North Korean propaganda poster, which, under the North Korean regime, is seen as a serious offense.
On January 2, 2016, Warmbier was charged with theft of a government object and sentenced to 15 years hard labor in a North Korean prison labor camp. When the sentencing was released, North Korean officials claimed that this harsh sentencing was in response to U.S. sanctions against North Korea that previous year.
After attempts at negotiating Warmbier's release, North Korea locked down any release possibilities. He was not the first U.S. citizen to be held by North Korea for political purposes and was not seen differently in this instance by North Korean officials.
Sometime between his sentencing in February 2016 and late March 2016, Warmbier suffered a massive medical situation which caused damage to his brain. No remarks or reports came from North Korea about the issue, and he was continually held there for over a year after his emergency. Little to nothing is known about what happened to cause the event, nor about the time between the situation and his release.
During the time between the emergency and his release, Warmbier's parents requested that their son be a part of any and all negotiations between the United States and North Korea. As time kept moving, Warmbier's parents became increasingly mad and unsettled at the lack of action by the government. Hope seemed lost as the year went on.
Thankfully, on June 12, 2017, Warmbier was released through a negotiation between the United States and North Korea. The State Department secured his release and return to the United States.
The tragic part about all of this? Warmbier never woke up from his coma. Since the event in March 2016 that rendered him medically damaged, he had been in a coma and had not woken up. This remained the case for a week after his return. His parents were able to see him for the first time after over a year of separation. But their son was no longer there.
On June 19, 2017, Warmbier succumbed to his injuries in the hospital and passed away in the afternoon. He is survived by his parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier. He died at the age of 22.
A lot of speculation is in the air as to how he suffered these injuries. The North Koreans have claimed since his release that Warmbier suffered botulism while in the North Korean camp, and was given a sleeping pill from which he never woke up. However, once taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, other ideas surfaced amongst the doctors overseeing Warmbier's condition.
They found little to no evidence that botulism was the case of his coma. In fact, one of the neurointensive care specialists, Brandon Foreman, even stated that botulism "can cause paralysis but not a coma." Instead, his coma seems to have been caused by a form of cardiac arrest, potentially triggered by respiratory arrest. It would not be the first instance in which torture was utilized by North Korea. The United States has denounced North Korea's crude methods of treating prisoners in response.
Warmbier's medical records were not released until his return to the States, and no response has been given from North Korea to the United States findings.
Otto's father, Fred Warmbier, has been quite vocal about his son's mistreatment and now death. He railed the Obama administration, claiming they did nothing despite Warmbier's multiple pleas to return his son home. He also praised President Donald Trump and his administration, claiming they were able to do what the previous administration either refused to or couldn't accomplish.
Thoughts and prayers are with Warmbier's family.
