Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Otto Warmbier. An American college student and tourist whose trip to North Korea turned into an actual nightmare. In 2016, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a North Korean prison camp for a seemingly innocent crime that many believe… he didn’t even commit. After his sentencing, all communication with the outside world was cut off.
As tensions with North Korea…
and the United states continued to rise.
It believes otto was used as a bargaining chip, the US was able to secure Otto’s return after he been held in North korea for over a year .
but when he came back , he was a completely different person.
his mother says that he was put in a braindead condition from torture.
according to his parents, his arms and legs were totally deformed and it looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and re- arranged his bottom teeth.
Unfortunately, otto died less then a week after being returned home to his family.
North Korea refused to take responsiblity.Blaming otto’s death on a severe reaction to a sleeping pill.
But the US pushed back,claiming his death was caused by severe beatings and torture at the hands of the north korean government.
we’ll dive into what he allegedly did,but giving north korea’s history of human rights violations it’s no suprised he was treated so poorly.
those who have survived the north korea prison system have claimed that guards beat ,tortured and even starved detainees.
leading to some prisoners scrounging for insects to survive. North korea is also known to use children for laborand in extreme cases give them the death penalty.
Controlled by ” supreme Leader”Kim Jong Un.
the country is considered a totalitarian dictatorship with the worst human rights record in the world.
today ,we’ll find out, what really happened to Otto during his stay in North Korea?
why was he used as a political pawn?
and is north korea really to blame for his death?
Otto was an adventurous, hard-working athletic,22 year old with a bright future ahead ofhim.
He graduated from Wyoming high school in 2013 with the second- highest GPA among his classmates.
he earned a scholarship to the University of Virginia ,where he study commerce, economics and global sustainability.
Otto had plans to becom a banker ,but wanted to travel one last time before he got bogged down with counless hour of work.
Otto was no stranger to exploringforeign countries and was fascinated by the cultural differences.
he’d been to Israel
Cuba
Ecuador
and parts of Europe.
In early 2016, hewas set to study abroad in Hong Kong for his final semester ,before returning home to graduate in may.
On his way to china, he decided to visit North korea with young pioneer tours, a budget -friendly travel group that specializes in taking tourists to places they normally wouldn’t go.
their slogan even states” Destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from”
at the time United states hada travel advisory that strongly warned against their citizens travelling to north korea. still the tour group claimed the trip was safe . even for U.S citizens.
for Otto , it was a no brainer.
He signed up for a five day ,four night New year’s party tour. things started off light and fun for Otto and his tour mates.
there weren¨t any red flags, well… exept for one offhand remark ,Ottos new friends gave him the nickname ” Imperial Enemy”.as a way to poke fun at his american citizenship.
he was one of just two americans on the trip , which included canadians , austrialians, and europeans.
all in all, the group of newfound friends grew a quite fond of each other.
this is the last known photo of Otto before he would experience the great horrors of his life.
later that day ,they celebrated new year’s eve at a bar, before joining thousands of north koreans in pyongyang’s main square.
the tourists returned to their hotel with some opting to continue drinking.while ottos roomate forthe duration of the trip, Daniel gratton,decidedto check out the hotel’s bowling alley.
All in all , it was a succesful new year’s eve.
on january 2nd , 2016, the group was set to head home,they made their way through security with Otto and his roomate danny being the last two in line.
as the pair waited to get cleared to board the plane. suddenly two soldiers escorted Otto a another room .
so why exactly was Otto detained?
As the plan was about to leave the terminal ,whitout Otto on board an official announced that he had been taken to the hosptial because he was very sick.
two months after being detained, it was finally revealed why he was arrested.
North korea accused Otto of trying to steal a propaganda poster from a restricted area at his hotel
On february 29th ,2016,during a recorde press conference, Otto calmly confessed to the crime. he was seen reading directly from a prepared statement.
many people. his parents included strongly believe he was being forced to confess.
two weeks after the press conference,the north korean supreme court sentenced Otto to 15 years of imprisonment and hard labor.
Now your probably thinking, 15 years of prison?for stealinga poster?seems kinda hars.
Well, in North korea,damagin or stealing anything that mentions or shows the north korean leader is considered a serious crime.
still, as more information regarding that night was revealed ,the facts weren’t adding upOttos story started to look more like a calculated move by the north korean government. than a drunken mistake by a tourist
for one, the video evidence shows a shadowy figure taking down a poster around 2 .am.
there’s no way to even confirm if it was a man or a woman.
the timing was also off.Otto was with his tourmates. celebrting new year.
Otto’s confession during the press conference also didn’t make sense.reading from a script. his statements felt coerced,
as if he had hoped fora pardon.
he said he had” put on his quietest boots,the best forsneaking” to steal the poster. he also claimed that it was at the request of the methodist church and athe secretive Z society at his university. both ofwhom hadties with the CIA.
He stated it was all in an effort to bring home a trophy ” to harm the work ethic and motivation of the Korean people”
ya, that sounds pretty suss to me…
of course both the church and the Z society would deny these outrageous claims, and on top of that ,
Otto was jewish and not affiliated with the church.
so, was Otto really framed?
and why do his parents believe his arrest was linked to north korea’s weapons program?
Relations between the United states and the north korean government have never been goo
d and Otto’s case had things going from bad to worse.
just days after being detained,North korea had tested what was believed to bea nuclear weapon .
and a few and a few weeks later ,a missile launch.
this led to to the United Nations imposing more sanctions against them and the U.S .
government teaming up with south korea’s military.for joint drills.
In response tothe joint drills ,the north korean government threatened a “preemptive and offensive nuclear strike.”
so how does Otto tie into all of this?
It’s believed he was used as a political pawn. to not only ease import and export restrictions
but possibly enhance relations with the United States.
2016 was an election year for the U.S., and it’s possible the north korean government saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of.
for over a year ,both Obama and Trump administrations were sending government officials overseas in hopes of bringing home Otto safely.
though his parents would spent months worried sick about their son’s safety, they were reassured he was fine by the U.S government.-the same government that initially urged them to keep quiet out of fear of making things worse .
According to Otto’s father:
” that Whole time we were told he wasin perfect healt,by the CIA ,by our state department”
Despite this promise, it’sbelieved that Otto was severly beaten and possibly tortured while being held captive.
waterboarding is an interrogation tactic used. which simulates drowning.it is illegal internationally and is considered one of the worst torture methods.
if someone is subjected to waterboarding for long periods of time,they could be deprived of oxygen to the brain leading to permanent damage or worse….death.
Joseph Yun the U.S special representative for north korean policy would lead the negotiations between the U.S. and north korea over 17 months.
That is,until june 2017, when things took a turn for the worse.
After learning that Otto was in a coma – like state ,yun, president Trump and his administration demanded they go into north korea and bring the american home.
Arriving in north korea , yun admited there was no guarantee of getting Otto home.they initialy wouldn’t let even yun or the doctor accompanying him see Otto.
following intense genotiations, North korea granted Yun and the medical team access to Otto. what they saw ,however.. wasn¨t the same kid who’s photos had been circulating media outlets.
eventually the two governments wouldcome to an agreement, and Otto was finally on his way home
But that promise to his parents of getting him home in good health was broken,. when yun first saw Otto ,he was pale and practically lifeless ,with a feeding tub inserted into his nose.
It was clear that Otto was never going to be the same.north korean doctor’s who were caring for Otto claimed he had arrived at the hospital in worse condition than a year before his rescue.
later ,it was revealed that Otto had been in a coma for 15 of the 17 months he was detained. even though Otto was returned to his parents, many questions still needed to be answered.
and the most obviouse one was : what happened to Otto while he was imprisoned?
North korea claimed that he fell into a coma due to botulism ,after reacting to a sleeping pill .
but the U.SA argued it was due to severe beatings. at the hands of north korean guards.
Returning home, Otto was in a vegetative state. his eyes were open,but he wasn’t responsive,nor he did he have control over his body.
after medical exams and brain scans,it was clear Otto had severe brain damage ,likely due to a heart attack.suprisingly, there were no definitive signs of torture orphyiscal abuse.
There were no healing fractures or any signs showing he had been hit. but he did have a large scar on his foot. and his teeth looked misaligned fueling further suspicions.
It appeard that both side of Otto’s brain were damaged symmetrically disproving claims he was struckin the head.
Normally a blow to the head affects one specific area. not the entire brain evenly.
after 6 days of laying beside their lifeless son
Ottos parents fred and cindy warmbier made the heartbraking decision to remove his feeding tube.
Otto warmbier offically passed away on june 19th ,2017.
Otto’s parents would go on to sue North Korea and win after the country wouldn’t contest the claimes. they were ” awarded” 501 million in damages, however it was a more symbolic win than anything as north korea refused to hand over the money.
the jude oversee the case claimed that north korea was liable for torture, hostage taking , the extrajudicial killing of Otto warmbier, and the injuries to his mother and father.
in january 2022, the warmbiers were given 240, 000 dollar after the U.S government seized assets from a north korean bank.
yet , no amount of money will ever reverse the trauma they have and would continue to endure over the loss of their son . to this day , fred and cindy had made it there mission to expose the evil that lies of within the borders of north korea.
