Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
N. Korea releases U.S. student in coma
Trump team takes credit for action on Virginia undergrad
Otto Warmbier’s parents say Virginia undergrad has been in coma while serving prison term.
WASHINGTON — A U.S. college student who has been in a coma, according to his parents, while serving a 15-year prison term in North Korea, was released and evacuated Tuesday as the Trump administration revealed a rare exchange with the reclusive country.
The release of Otto Warmbier came during a visit to North Korea by former NBA star Dennis Rodman, one of few people to have met both North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. But State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Rodman had nothing to do with Warmbier’s release. Rodman had told reporters that the issue of Americans detained by North Korea is “not my purpose right now.”
The administration credited the release to its intervention. It said its special envoy on North Korean policy met with North Korean foreign ministry representatives in Norway last month. The North Koreans agreed to allow consular visits to four Americans held in the North.
While North Korea’s move to free Warmbier could provide an opening for talks on security issues, the prospects still appear bleak. International negotiations on the dispute over North Korea’s nuclear program have been in limbo for years, as the U.S. cranks up economic sanctions and North Korea won’t give up weapons it considers a guarantee against invasion.
The detention of Americans, often sentenced to draconian prison sentences for seemingly small offenses, has compounded tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. Three Americans remain in custody.
Warmbier, 22, a University of Virginia undergraduate, was convicted and sentenced in a onehour trial in North Korea’s Supreme Court in March 2016. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor for subversion after he tearfully confessed that he had tried to steal a propaganda banner.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that the State Department had secured Warmbier’s release at Trump’s direction.
Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement to The Associated Press that their son is in a coma and flying home. They said they were told their son has been in a coma since his trial — when he was last seen in public — and they had learned of this only one week ago. U.S. officials did not confirm those details. The State Department would not comment on Warmbier’s condition, citing privacy concerns.
“We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime” in North Korea, Warmbier’s parents said. “We are so grateful that he will finally be with people who love him.”
Following the May meeting in Oslo, North Korea urgently requested another meeting, which took place last week between the Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, and the North’s ambassador at the U.N. in New York. There, Yun learned about Warmbier’s condition, the White House official said.
The official said that after Tillerson consulted with Trump, Yun was dispatched to North Korea. He visited Warmbier with two doctors on Monday, and demanded his release on humanitarian grounds.
A North Korean foreign ministry official said only that Warmbier left the country Tuesday.
Rodman told reporters in Beijing, as he departed for Pyongyang, that he hoped his trip would “open a door” for Trump.
Tillerson said the State Department is continuing “to have discussions” with North Korea about the release of other three U.S. citizens imprisoned there. They are:
Kim Hak Song, who was detained in early May to be investigated for committing unspecified hostile acts, Pyongyang has said. He worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.
Tony Kim, who also goes by his Korean name Kim Sang-duk, was detained April 22 at the Pyongyang airport. He had also taught at the university. He was accused of committing unspecified criminal acts intended to overthrow the government.
South Korean-born U.S. citizen Kim Dong Chul, who was sentenced in April 2016 to 10 years in prison with hard labor after being convicted of espionage.