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Otto Warmbier

Otto Warmbier, the American college student who returned home last week in a coma after 17 months of detention in North Korea, died Monday afternoon, his family said in a statement.

"It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home."

Warmbier was surrounded by his family when he died at 2:20 p.m., the statement said.

“Unfortunately, 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."

Warmbier went to North Korea in the spring of 2016 with the Young Pioneer Tours travel group, a company that takes participants to places they wouldn't normally go.

The trip was supposed to last five days. But as he tried to depart from Pyongyang's airport, Warmbier was stopped by security.

According to the North Korean government, he was detained because he had sneaked onto a restricted floor of his hotel and had stolen a political poster. He later confessed to the crime, but it's not known if the confession was voluntary.

Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor and spent 17 months in North Korea before being released.

He arrived home June 13 suffering from significant brain damage, unable to respond to verbal communication. Ref. CNN

Image from Wikimedia public domain.

Warmbier Otto

That is vexing! I can only guess that the parents, specially mom, must be so full of torment over this. We need to act to make North Korea pay for this.

Otto Warmbier History & Civil Business Politics

It is no fault of the United States Government when a young adult who feels they know more and ignore the US State departments warning not to travel to certain countries if you are a US Citizen. The fact that most normal people know that North Korea is a very dangerous place for Americans to go to should tell you to stay away.

I feel for the parents of this young man and I feel that North Korean officials tortured him and beat him until he was beyond help before they released him. This should also be a good sign of why it is never a good reason to go to some Countries. Check the travel advisories the US State department gives out and do not go to places they say travel is not recommended.

Warmbier Otto

Yeah, I absolutely agree with you KN. Why would anyone want to put themselves in the clutches of a man like Kim who doesn't mind enslaving a whole country so he can eat, grow fat, and be jolly is beyond me. Now, the group that took him there, they should be liable to a degree, although the fact that he may have tried to steal something, even something as mundane as a political poster, may limit their liability. But the truth is, we'll never know if he really did that because there is nothing even approaching fair justice in North Korea.

Warmbier Otto

What about the person that dared him to pull down the poster? How foolish can you be to taunt someone to put themselves at the risk of imprisonment or even death.

Otto Warmbier

Does not matter who dared him if he was even dared at all. I believe that anything he said under torture is not reliable information and heresy. I know he went over there on his own accord against the advice from the state department.

Otto Warmbier

Of course it matters. If you dared someone to do something and they ended up dead because of it you wouldn't feel anything about it?

Otto Warmbier Politics Business Civil & History

That is the thing. If I dared someone to do something I would not dare them to do something that could cause their death. We do not know if this was a dare or even if anyone was with him or if he was even where they said he was because the NK government is not known to be truthful on anything they say.