American student dies a week after being released from prison in North Korea

American student Otto Warmbier died in the US after returning from North Korea. This was announced on June 19 by his relatives. Warmbier died at 21:20 Moscow time in a Cincinnati hospital.

Warmbier, 22, was released by North Korean authorities on June 13. He was evacuated from the DPRK in a state of coma, which Warmbier fell into in the spring of 2016. In the United States, he had extensive brain cell death.

“The terrible torture conditions under which our son was held in North Korea led to an unfortunate outcome that we could not avoid,” Warmbier’s parents said.

Reuters

• According to the North Korean authorities, Warmbier contracted botulism and then fell into a coma after taking sleeping pills. This came shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2016 for stealing a propaganda poster.