Student detained in N. Korea mourned at hometown funeral
WYOMING, Ohio — Celebrating the life of an American college student who was detained in North Korea for over a year and died shortly after returning home in a coma, a packed crowd of mourners gathered Thursday as Otto Warmbier’s loved ones shared stories about his affinity for hugs, thrift-store clothes-shopping and little-known rap music.
More mourners lined the street, with some holding signs of support and pressing the tips of their thumbs together to form a “W,” as a hearse carried away the casket after the public service at a school in Warmbier’s hometown of Wyoming, near Cincinnati. A rabbi officiated at the service, which was closed to news media.
“It doesn’t really feel real yet. He’s so young, and he’s been gone for so long,” said Grady Beerck, 22, a former soccer teammate. “The impact he made is always going to last with people.”
So many showed up that officials had to turn about 100 people away once roughly 2,000 had filled an auditorium, cafeteria and gym for the service. Warmbier’s passport and jacket were on display as mourners signed a memorial book.
The attendees included Ambassador Joseph Yun, the U.S. special envoy who traveled to Pyongyang to bring Warmbier back, and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from the Cincinnati area.
Portman told the throng of reporters outside that North Korea must be held accountable for what happened to the 22-year-old University of Virginia student, who died Monday.
“This college kid never should have been detained in the first place,” said Portman, who previously revealed he met secretly with North Korean officials in New York last December to press for Warmbier’s release. He said North Korea’s treatment of Warmbier demonstrated “a basic disregard for human rights, for human dignity.”
Warmbier was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting North Korea in 2015 and was later convicted of subversion. His family said they were told he had been in a coma since shortly after he was sentenced to prison with hard labor in March 2016.
After he returned to Ohio, doctors determined he had suffered a “severe neurological injury” of unknown cause. Warmbier’s family objected to an autopsy, so the Hamilton County coroner’s office conducted only an external examination of his body and is still trying to determine his cause of death.