University Student Otto Warmbier Dies At 22! A Week After North Korea Ended His Detention

Otto Warmbier, 22, an American Student who was returned to the US in a coma, the last Tuesday after 17 months as a prisoner in North Korea, has died at a Cincinnati hospital. Otto's family revealed,

 "It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20pm."

North Korea returned Otto saying "It was on humanitarian grounds." They revealed he had been in Coma for about a year after being booked for botulism where he consumed a sleeping pill. But, US doctors explained, they found no evidence of the illness. Even his family denied, saying he was subjected to "awful, torturous mistreatment."

With the heavy heart, otto's family expressed their tragedy,

“When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on 13 June he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands,He looked very uncomfortable – almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed – he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.”

The doctors from the University of Cincinnati medical center, where Warmbier was taken, stated,

"He had suffered injuries related to cardiopulmonary arrest and was in a state of unresponsive wakefulness. Scans showed an extensive loss in all regions of Warmbier’s brain."

US Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona also mentioned,

"Let us state the facts plainly: Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong Un regime,"

Otto was reported serving 15 years hard labor, as he got accused of attempting to steal a propaganda poster from a hotel. After a month from his arrest, he appeared in a press conference where he admitted to his crime sobbingly.

He mentioned,

"The aim of my task was to harm the motivation and work ethic of the Korean people," 

Here's a clip from the press conference,

Caption: Otto in a press conference admitting to his crime (Published on Feb 29, 2016).

Warmbier was arrested at Pyongyang airport in January 2016 and immediately sentenced, on March, to 15 years hard labor for allegedly taking a political poster from his hotel room, as per the news. He had been staying there as part of an organized tour.

Commenting on the tragedy of Warmbier’s death on Monday, President Trump said,

“Lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents.”

He further added during a White House event,

 “It’s a brutal regime and we’ll be able to handle it.”

The president also spoke at a public event, taking credit on behalf of his administration that brought Otto back to U.S,

“Let me start by saying that I’m glad Secretary of State of Rex Tillerson and I, along with a very talented team, were able to get Otto Warmbier back with his parents,” Trump said in a speech in Miami. “What’s happened to him is a truly terrible thing, but at least the ones who love him so much can now take care of him and be with him.”

Here's a twitter clip of President Trump, addressing the matter,

He also offered a heartfelt condolence to Ottos' family, saying,

 “Otto’s fate deepens my Administration’s determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.”

Ottos' death also led Young Pioneer Tours to announce that, it would no longer offer US citizens trips to North Korea,

"The devastating loss of Otto Warmbier's life has led us to reconsider our position on accepting American tourists. There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result. Now, the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high."

We are deeply saddened by the demise of  Otto Warmbier. Hopefully, justice will be served to his family after a detailed investigation of the incident, and other innocent parents will not have to face tragedies like this in the future.