US student in coma freed as Rodman returns to N Korea
NORTH KOREA: It was supposed to be just a short trip and tour of North Korea for Otto Warmbier. It turned into a year-and-a-half-long nightmare.
The American university student received a 15-year prison sentence for what the communist country called a crime against the state. In reality, he admitted, he tried to steal a banner from a hotel. He was sentenced in March 2016, about three months after his arrest.
Yesterday finally came news that the 23-year-old had been released and had arrived back in his native Ohio. But his parents disclosed that he has been in a coma since his sentencing. They also revealed that they learned of his medical condition only last week.
‘‘We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalised and terrorised by the pariah regime,’’ Fred and Cindy Warmbier said. ‘‘We are so grateful that he will finally be with people who love him.’’
The news of the release came amid a bizarre coincidence: the arrival of former basketball star Dennis Rodman in North Korea yesterday.
Rodman tweeted a photo of himself holding a ticket for Air Koryo, North Korea’s state-owned airline, and wrote, ’’I’m back’’. It quickly fuelled speculation that he had helped to secure Warmbier’s release, given his previous trips to the reclusive nation and his support for US President Donald Trump.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert denied that Rodman had anything to do with Warmbier’s release, which comes amid some of the most protracted tensions between the US and North Korea in years.
North Korea recently arrested another American, and is testing missiles on a regular basis. US Defence Secretary James Mattis declared this week that North Korea’s advancing nuclear weapons programme was the ‘‘most urgent’’ threat to America’s national security.
It was unclear what North Korea’s motive was behind Warmbier’s release.
Warmbier’s ordeal became widely known in March 2016 when he tearfully confessed - though he was probably coerced - to stealing the banner. ’’I’ve made the worst mistake of my life,’’ he said in televised remarks. ‘‘I apologise to each and every one of the millions of the Korean people.’’
His parents made public pleas for his release throughout his imprisonment, and last year urged President-elect Trump to help their son come home.
Trump administration officials said Tuesday was the first time the US had been able to confirm Warmbier’s status after he was sentenced, and State Department Special Representative Joseph Yun immediately demanded that North Korea release Warmbier on humanitarian grounds.
- LA Times