Otto Warmbier

Mickeynutty

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
I am so sad about his death. Just found out while reading about him that he went to N Korea with a tour group service from China, where he was studying. The tour service advertised that they "take you on a tour to places your mother wouldn't want you to go!"

So sad.
 
I'm surprised there wasn't already a thread about that situation. I am sorry for him as well as the family, but I have some thoughts about the situation as a whole.
 
It just seemed so senseless. Sure he did something that was rather immature, but only a regime that's insecure about itself would punish someone so severely.

I guess they claim that he suffered from botulism and fell into a coma due to medication he was taking, but that's just odd. I'm pretty sure they'll conduct an autopsy and figure out that he was beaten into the coma.
 


I've been following very closely.

He took a poster with Kim jongs picture on it off the wall and placed it on the ground. He didn't steal it. Messing with anybthing with Kim Jong Un's image on it is a serious crime in NK. Not only that the video is extremely blurry and can't make anybody out.

He was used against the US govt as retribution when the US issued sanctions against their nuclear program.

Gd only knows what they did to him to cause this. In a country where the leader literally fed his alive uncle to the dogs to be killed.
 


There was no sign of botulism, which does not cause this type of brain damage (according to news sources I read quoting the doctors treating him). It was most likely oxygen deprivation.
 
This story is so disturbing to me. Who knows what horrors he experienced?

When he gave his "confession" before his sentencing, he was clearly under duress, weak, and emotional, and reading what he was told to say. He had surely been tortured already. Sickening.
 
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What happened to Otto goes way beyond disturbing, the young man was tortured for a "questionable" crime and forced to confess. I know he may have done something stupid, but you shouldn't pay for it with your life and he should never have been tortured. Now he has paid the ultimate price.

May Otto find peace now. My heart breaks for him and his family. I cannot imagine what the all went through. Just horrific.

Rest in peace, Otto. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.
 
My heart goes out to his family. Heartbreaking.

Why anyone would go to North Korea willingly is beyond me. The tour service is still sending Americans on tours in North Korea.
 
I'll admit, when this story first broke, I was surprised that Americans were capable of traveling to NK as tourists so easily. It appears there have been efforts in the past to restrict/prevent American travel to NK, and this incident has generated some new steam for those efforts.

This is an issue I haven't thought much about, but I can't immediately see any reason I'd oppose gov't restrictions on travel to NK. The proposal I read suggested you'd need a license to go, and that there would be no tourist license option. So anyone going would have to be on business/humanitarian/etc purposes.
 
I was sad to hear of his death. His poor family have been through so much. It just a terrible situation.
As far as restricting travel to NK, I do think there should be restrictions on Americans going there. This is a brutal government that isn't above using tourists as pawns. It's human nature to do stupid things and think nothing bad will happen to you. People do it all the time. Unfortunately, bad things do happen.
 
Incredibly heartbreaking for his family. I have such a hard time wrapping my brain around how this was possible from the start, or that tour companies were still getting customers after he was detained to begin with.
 
As a parent, I really try not to dictate to my young adults as to what they do but if my 18/19/20 yr old wanted to go on a tour to North Korea, I would have done just about anything to prevent such a venture.
There is independence and then their is just plain old bad decision making.
My heart goes out to this family, this is such a tragedy.
The wingnut regime of NK made an example out of this kid, they used him to give the US the finger and it cost him his life.
 
Heartbreaking. I gotta feel bad for the guy, despite how dumb it is to go to NK. In your twenties, you feel invincible- I honestly think I have family members who would go to North Korea for the adventure EVEN after hearing this story. There needs to be restrictions on Americans traveling there, this tour company shouldn't be allowed to operate if it puts lives in danger.
 
I knew when I saw them carrying him off the plane that he likely had brain damage. His legs were dangling and he had foot drop, indicating he hadn't been out of bed in a very long time. Supposedly he was like that since his first days in captivity, which in a small way, I guess, is a bit of a blessing, since he was actually sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for his "crime". I remember reading about it when it first happened and then I haven't seen any more about it until last week. We were talking about it at home. They claimed he had "botulism". I hope they can figure out what really happened. Basketball great Dennis Rodman is friends with the NK leader and he may have had a hand in securing his release.
 
As a parent, I really try not to dictate to my young adults as to what they do but if my 18/19/20 yr old wanted to go on a tour to North Korea, I would have done just about anything to prevent such a venture.
There is independence and then their is just plain old bad decision making.
My heart goes out to this family, this is such a tragedy.
The wingnut regime of NK made an example out of this kid, they used him to give the US the finger and it cost him his life.

Mine are in college and have been handling their own affairs for quite a while, which is exactly the way we like it. I would have flipped out and played every single parent card imaginable if they tried to visit NK. I just don't see what would have drawn anyone to want to visit in the first place?
 
Mine are in college and have been handling their own affairs for quite a while, which is exactly the way we like it. I would have flipped out and played every single parent card imaginable if they tried to visit NK. I just don't see what would have drawn anyone to want to visit in the first place?

When I was traveling in Morocco, I met this guy who had a list of countries "that my mom told me not to go to". He was hitting up things like Venezuela, Iraq, Nigeria, the Congo and Mali, and was VERY proud of that fact. Morocco was an extremely tame destination for him. As I said above, when you are 20 you feel invincible, and pushing the envelope is a point of pride.
 

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