American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea
Otto Warmbier
Born
Otto Frederick Warmbier
(1994-12-12)December 12, 1994
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Died
June 19, 2017(2017-06-19) (aged 22)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Resting place
Oak Hill Cemetery, Glendale, Ohio
Education
Wyoming High School
Alma mater
University of Virginia London School of Economics
Detention
Country
North Korea
Detained
January 2, 2016
Charge
Subversion (through alleged attempted theft of a propaganda poster)
Sentence
15 years imprisonment with hard labor
Released
June 12, 2017
Otto Frederick Warmbier (December 12, 1994 – June 19, 2017) was an American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea in 2016 on a charge of subversion. In June 2017, he was released by North Korea in a vegetative state and died soon after his parents requested his feeding tube be removed.
Warmbier entered North Korea as part of a guided tour group on December 29, 2015. On January 2, 2016, he was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport while awaiting departure from the country. He was convicted of attempting to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel, for which he was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment with hard labor.[1]
Shortly after his sentencing in March 2016, Warmbier suffered a severe neurological injury from an unknown cause and fell into a coma, which lasted until his death.[2] North Korean authorities did not disclose his medical condition until June 2017, when they announced he had fallen into a coma as a result of botulism and a sleeping pill. He was freed later that month, still in a comatose state after 17 months in captivity. He was repatriated to the United States and arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 13, 2017. He was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for immediate evaluation and treatment.
Warmbier never regained consciousness and died on June 19, 2017, six days after his return to the United States when his parents requested his feeding tube be removed.[3] A coroner's report stated that he died from an unknown injury causing lack of oxygen to the brain.[4] Non-invasive internal scans did not find any signs of fractures to his skull.[3]
In 2018, a U.S. federal court found the North Korean government liable for Warmbier's torture and death, in a default judgment in favor of Warmbier's parents after North Korea did not contest the case.[5][6]
^Calamur, Krishnadev (March 16, 2016). "The Cost of Stealing a Sign: 15 Years of Hard Labor". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on January 31, 2023.
^Pennington, Matthew (April 26, 2018). "Parents sue North Korea over death of detainee Otto Warmbier". AP News. Archived from the original on March 2, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019. He was denied communication with his family by any means until in early June 2017 they were informed he was in a coma and had been in that condition for one year.
^ abClark, Doug Bock (July 23, 2018). "The Untold Story of Otto Warmbier, American Hostage". GQ. Archived from the original on August 1, 2018. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
^Cite error: The named reference McCurry was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Harvard, Sarah (December 24, 2018). "North Korea ordered to pay $500m to Otto Warmbier's family over death of US student". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 10, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
^Tucker, Eric (December 24, 2018). "US judge orders North Korea to pay for torture, death of student". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on March 2, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019. His once straight teeth were misaligned, and he had an unexplained scarred wound on his foot. An expert said in court papers that the injuries suggested he had been tortured with electrocution.
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