North Korea releases US citizen
Parents say student detained for over a year is in a coma
USA TODAY WASHINGTON North Korea has released Cincinnati native Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old college student who had been imprisoned in that reclusive dictatorship for more than a year.
“At the direction of the president, the Department of State has secured the release of Otto Warmbier from North Korea,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday. “Mr. Warmbier is en route to the United States, where he will be reunited with his family.”
Warmbier’s parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, confirmed in a statement that their son is in a coma. “We have been told that he has been in that condition since March of 2016. We learned of this only one week ago,” they said.
Fred Warmbier told The Cincinnati Enquirer the family would hold a news conference Wednesday in Cincinnati.
A State Department spokeswoman said that out of respect for the privacy of Warmbier’s family, “we have no further comment.”
Sen. Rob Portman confirmed the release but did not comment on Warmbier’s health.
“The secretary of state has confirmed to me that Otto has been released by North Korea, and is being returned to his family,” the Ohio Republican said in a statement. “Fred, Cindy, and the Warmbier family have been remarkably strong throughout this ordeal. Over the last 18 months, they have had to endure more than any family should have to bear.”
The Warmbiers have been relentlessly pressing or their son’s release.
“I want my kid home. He doesn’t deserve this,” Fred Warmbier told The Enquirer in an interview last month.
During his 18-month incarceration, the Warmbiers have only heard from their son once — in a letter on March 2, 2016.
Fred Warmbier noted that the North Koreans had refused to let Swedish officials — America’s diplomatic intermediaries in that country — visit or contact Otto for more than a year. “Since March 2, no one has seen or heard from Otto,” Fred Warmbier said.
Tillerson’s announcement came as former NBA player Dennis Rodman made a return visit to North Korea. Rodman, asked by CNN whether he was working on the release of detained Americans, he said, “that is not my purpose right now.”