A file picture shows US student Otto Warmbier in Pyongyang. [Yonhap News Photo]
A US college student released from North Korea in a coma after 17 months of detention died, his family said, blaming the "awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans."
Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, died at 2:20 p.m., the family said. "Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family said in a statement.
"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home, and we believe he could sense that," the statement said.'
US President Donald Trump condemned North Korea's "brutality." "Otto's fate deepens my administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency," Trump said. "The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."
Following Warmbier's release last week, Trump said a "truly terrible thing" happened to Warmbier. Warmbier was arrested in the North in January last year for stealing a political propaganda sign from a hotel and was later sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. He was released last week, but in a coma. North Korean officials claimed Warmbier fell into a coma in March last year due to botulism and a sleeping pill. Doctors said Warmbier had severe brain damage.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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