Sammarco said Warmbier's body, including his skin, was in surprisingly good condition for someone who had reportedly been bedridden for more than a year, indicating he received regular care. No previous American detainee has accused North Korea of using physical force to extract a confession, but if Otto protested his innocence, he probably received a warning similar to the one given to Ohioan Jeffrey Fowle, who was detained two years before him: If you don't start cooperating, things are going to become less pleasant. As the journalist Laura Ling wrote of her five months in detention, I told [the prosecutor] what he wanted to hearand kept telling him until he was satisfied., Ever since the sailors of the U.S.S. Take our quiz, We'll find you and we won't let you live a teams fight to exist, When a biryani flies hundreds of miles to reach Indians, The two generals fighting over Sudan's future, 'I thought we'd die' - Sudan patients cry for help, Why Gen Z workers are starting on the back foot. The death of Otto Warmbier last year amid allegations he was brutally tortured by the North Korean government became a catalyst for President Trump's June summit with dictator Kim Jong-un, but the circumstances of his death may not be so clear, Doug Bock Clark writes for GQ. In the footage of his news-conference confession, Otto looked physically healthy, but as he sobbed for his freedom, he was obviously in extreme mental distress. The administration was informed of the correct time line, and it was well known among government officials who worked on the case. Since the beginning of 2018, North Korea, hamstrung by sanctions and spooked by full-on preparations for war in Otto's name, had been trying to reset relations with the outside world. Despite eventually having his release won by Jimmy Carter, Gomes was unable to escape his post-traumatic stress disorder, and seven years later burned himself to death. After only 15 minutes, though, each prisoner was escorted away. To keep foreigners entertained, the 47-story tower is furnished with five restaurants (one of which revolves), a bar, a sauna, a massage parlor, and its own bowling alley. Pueblo, an American Navy spy ship that had been seized by the North Koreans in 1968 and today serves as an odd tourist attraction. It is for this paucity of evidence that, though the public discourse about Otto's death has long been dominated by talk of beatings, there have been doubts among North Korea experts that the intelligence reports were correct. The Untold Story of Otto Warmbier. Meanwhile, the American military made preparations for a possible conflict. To view this content choose accept and continue. The president pushed this narrative. But Otto would never recover to tell his side of the story. Then the U.S. motorcade and the ambulance raced directly to the airport, through open security gates, and onto the tarmac where the Gulfstream waited. But he was in a coma, could not communicate and had severe brain damage. GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. While they toured the ship, the Young Pioneers were regaled by a North Korean who told the foreign visitors about capturing the ship from the imperial enemy. The 82 American sailors captured on the Pueblo were beaten and starved for 11 months before finally being released. After the election, as Robert King transitioned into retirement, Otto's case was taken up by the newly appointed U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, Joseph Yun. The psychic trauma of all this has sent previous detainees into crushing depressions, and even driven some to attempt suicide. But if Otto was almost certainly not repeatedly beaten, then what put him in a state of non-responsive wakefulness? Then they picked up Yun and two other members of the State Department in Washington, D.C., and flew to Japan. We had less rights than a dog. But as it turned out, despite the most basic facilities (the room's sink did not even work), he got good care, and I didn't have to lie. Otto was well nourished and had no bedsores, an accomplishment even Western hospitals struggle to achieve with comatose patients. Shortly afterward, the president showed his approval by tweeting great interview and noting that Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea. To lobby for the United States to take legal action against North Korea, Fred hired the lawyer who represents Vice President Mike Pence in the special counsel's Russia investigation. American student Otto Frederick Warmbier, center, arrives at a court for his trial in Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, on March 16, 2015. . Read about our approach to external linking. What kind of nightmare did he endure while in captivity? "The teeth are natural and in good repair," the report said, and his . Who is to blame for Otto Warmbier's death? I felt there was no point in dragging on. They lived at his bedside until, six days after returning home, Otto died. No meaningful response. Sadly, he passed away on June 19, 2017, at the age of 22. Otto Warmbier was transferred to an ambulance upon his return home to Cincinnati in June 2017. Now, that's not to fault the Trump administration for applying maximum pressure on North Korea for an American citizen ending up brain-damaged in its custody: Such behavior warrants punishment. A busload of soldiers escorted the Americans off the tarmac, and the aircraft returned to Japan. The director of Pyongyangs Friendship Hospital said in a report released on Saturday by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Koreas official mouthpiece, that Warmbier was undergoing the reform through labor that he had been sentenced to" before he was returned to the United States. But here in this office, we depend on science for our conclusions. Three other individuals who had close contact with Otto on his return also did not notice any physical signs consistent with torture. And later that month, Trump designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, which would allow harsher future sanctions, stating, As we take this action today, our thoughts turn to Otto Warmbier., Being imprisoned was lonely, isolating, and frustrating, Kenneth Bae, an American whod been detained in North Korea, told me. Until now, the next assumption about Otto's fate was that he had suffered severe brain damage by April, as the first brain scan sent back with his body was time-stamped. Otto Frederick Warmbier (C), shown in a March 2016 photo after his sentencing. Three days after the Times published its claims, The Washington Post also cited an anonymous senior American official rejecting reports that Otto had been beaten in custody. She said a forensic dentist agreed with her conclusion there was "no evidence of trauma" to Warmbier's teeth. As the Trump administration and North Korea spun Otto's story for their own ends, I spent six months reportingfrom Washington, D.C., to Seoultrying to figure out what had actually happened to him. Otto Frederick Warmbier was a college student from the US who was abducted in North Korea.Here, I will discuss Where to Watch Otto Warmbier Documentary. Mr. Trump tweeted afterward: "Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea." His personal life is in shambles, Robert Mueller looms large, and it's never been trickier to be the president's son. During the year after highlighting the story that Otto was physically tortured, Trump praised Fred and Cindy as good friends and invited them to high-profile events. Likely, the reports were just hearsay. From award-winning writing and photography to binge-ready videos to electric live events, GQ meets millions of modern men where they live, creating the moments that create conversations. All rights reserved. King's first thought was Oh no, not another American. North Korea has denied torturing Warmbier. The Warmbiers grew frustrated that the world's most powerful nation could not take more direct, immediate action to help their son. However, the coroner's report says, "the teeth are . When he won a finance internship the fall of his junior year, there was no disputing that he was a man fully in charge of his destiny. This was no accident," said Mr Warmbier. To these experts, it made much more sense that Otto was treated like all other detained Americans and that an unexpected catastrophe occurred. He also said his son had been abandoned by his family, his country and the world and that the government had given them no information about his death. The lack of physical evidence of beatings was widely publicized. He was released on medical grounds in June this year but arrived home seriously ill and died days later. Then, the next morning, Flueckiger and Yun were driven to a hotel in downtown Pyongyang, where the three other American prisoners were marched into a conference room one by one. Though he had obviously improved since coming into the hospital (he had a tracheotomy scar where machines had once breathed for him), he was in a state of unresponsive wakefulness, meaning he still possessed basic reflexes but no longer showed signs of awareness. Mr Warmbier said when they saw his son he was "moving around, and jerking violently, making these howling and inhuman sounds". It was only later that a member of Ottos tour group would wonder about the two-hour window that none of us can account for [Otto].. The likelihood of conflict grew so real that an American diplomat warned a Seoul-dwelling friend in confidence to move his assets out of South Korea. If Otto had Googled tour North Korea, the top link would have been for the company he chose, Young Pioneer Tours, an operator specializing in budget excursions to destinations your mother would rather you stay away from. The trips have a reputation of being like spring break in a geopolitical hot spot. Through intelligence sources, government officials, and senior-level North Korean defectors, and drawing on the experiences of the 15 other Americans who since 1996 have been imprisoned in North Koreasome in the same places as Ottoit is possible to describe Otto's probable day-to-day life there. Otto's eyes remained wide open and blank. He was accused of stealing a poster. North Korea has denied mistreating Warmbier, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster two months earlier. They were not decision makers at all., Otto signed a document with a thumbprint during his appearance at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang in March 2016.*. In fact, the Swedish ambassador stands in as Washington's liaison for American citizens in Pyongyang. He joined a fraternity known for its kind of nerdy dudes, and one of his college friends said that academics and family always took precedence over everything else, from partying to tailgating at football games. A meticulous planner, he filled a calendar hung on his dorm wall with handwritten commitments: from assignments to dates to bringing differently abled friends to basketball games. The Hamilton County coroner said Wednesday she found no signs of broken bones on Otto Warmbier's body, nor did she find that his teeth had been disfigured while he was imprisoned in North. The research organization Database Center for North Korean Human Rights confirmed a case of a factory janitor being prosecuted for bumping such a picture off the wall so that it fell and broke. The 22-year-old University of Virginia student returned to Ohio in a coma after North Korea released him on "humanitarian grounds" in June. There is no question that North Korea is a terrorist state and should be put back on the U.S. list of sponsors of state terrorism, and soon. Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea. She also pleaded with people not to go to North Korea, saying it was "playing into" Pyongyang's propaganda. Financial losses incurred by Otto Warmbier and his parents are estimated to range between $1,993,386 and $6,038,308, according to an expert statement submitted to the court by James V. Koch, an economics professor at Old Dominion University. On CNN, Cindy Warmbier noted a scar on her son's foot, saying it appeared to be "an open wound for months and months and months.". FILE - Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco speaks during a news conference regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of 22-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate student Otto Warmbier who was serving a 15-year prison term in North Korea, Sept. 27, 2017. When I met former detainee Bae in the Seoul office of his NGO dedicated to helping North Korean defectors, he told me, Being imprisoned was lonely, isolating, and frustrating. On June 19, 2017, Otto Warmbier died at a hospital in Cincinnati. The origin of Otto's injury remained a mystery. In the meantime, Flueckiger cradled Otto, changed his diaper, and whispered to him that he was free, like a father soothing his baby. During the televised confession, Otto would read from a handwritten script that he had put on his quietest boots, the best for sneaking and attempted the theft at the prompting of a local Methodist church, a university secret society, and the American administration, to harm the work ethic and motivation of the Korean people and bring home a trophy. Many of the confession's details didn't squarefor one, Otto was Jewish, not affiliated with a Methodist churchmaking experts suspect the words weren't originally Otto's. Otto became a symbol used to build a case for war on emotional grounds, the New York Times editorial board wrote. They had to resuscitate him, then give him oxygen and put him on a ventilator, or he would die. As Yun, the negotiator who helped free Otto, said, The doctors were clear that he had been brought to the hospital within a day of his trial, and that he had been in that same room until I saw him.. But Otto's experience after his arrest is not a black hole, as it has often been portrayed. When Fred hugged Otto that first night in the air ambulance, he felt that he couldn't get through to him and that his son was very uncomfortablealmost anguished. But within a day, the countenance of his face changed, the Warmbiers said. In the end, however, despite all the mystery still surrounding Otto, it is essential to remember two facts that endure as unyielding as gravestones: Otto's death and the grief of those he left behind. After a mourning period, Fred and Cindy appeared on Fox & Friends in September 2017, once more reportedly seeking to catch the president's eye, and called the North Koreans terrorists who had intentionally injured Otto. There were multiple scars and bruises, some apparently stemming from medical procedures. Bergman left with the impression that the North Koreans were considering ways that Otto could be released, but first they wanted to see what happened with the climaxing 2016 presidential campaign. The minister who was responsible for Otto was demoted and eventually disappeared, according to Michael Madden, a North Korea analyst who tracks its leadership. For the next two months, until his forced confession, Otto would probably have been relentlessly interrogated; American missionary Kenneth Bae said he was questioned up to 15 hours a day. But even if the official State Department response was stymied, that didn't mean that a back channel couldn't be employed. When the three remaining American detainees were released in May, Trump welcomed them home by saying, We want to thank Kim Jong-un, who really was excellent to these three incredible people.. Fred and Cindy Warmbier told Fox and Friends that the North Koreans were "terrorists" who had "systematically tortured" their son. The leaders of both countries have directly threatened the other with nuclear annihilation. There they were forced to plant soybeans or make bricks while living in spartan conditions, though, as Bae wrote, Compared to the average North Korean serving time in a labor camp, I was in a four-star resort. Certainly, it would have been more likely for any type of tragedyover-exertion under a furnace sun, a work accident, or even directed beatingsto occur in that barbed-wire-enclosed valley a few miles outside Pyongyang. Can you tell me how Otto's brain is functioning? she asked. Discovering the truth of events that happen in North Korea is a task that even American intelligence agencies struggle with. Physically, he returned destroyed in a state of unresponsive wakefulness with a devastating brain injury; he also had a large scar on his left foot and traumatic dental injuries, all of which resulted from North Koreas torture, the complaint stated. He was also no stranger to dangerous overseas situations, for in his current position as medical director for an elite air-ambulance service, Phoenix Air, he had evacuated Americans stricken with Ebola from Africa. President Trump, I ask you: Bring my son home, he said. Will we ever know what happened to Otto Warmbier? They know someday they will have to send them back.. Cindy told news outlets that she imagined that might mean Otto was asleep or in a medically induced coma. Nothing during the transition. But as he chatted with his guides, he knew his informal offers were being conveyed up the chain. After failing to cut his wrists, Aijalon Gomes chewed open a thermometer and drank its mercury, later explaining that he had given up on America's ability to free him. Hundreds of people lined the streets to witness Otto's hearse, and many made the W hand gesture representing his high school. One week later, he was dead.. Otto, escorted at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang, where he was sentenced to 15 years of prison with hard labor. The lawsuit charged the North Korean government with hostage taking, illegal detention, torture and killing of a young American tourist in order to extract various concessions from the United States government.. But American detainees escape that fate. When asked about his son's health, he said grimly, We're trying to make him comfortable. Sometimes he slipped into the past tense when talking about him. In early June, Trump and Kim shook hands in front of the red, white, and blue of both nations' flags. But once their nationalities were established, they were sent to the green-roofed guesthouse. After reviewing post-mortem dental images, Dock stated in his declaration that he observed substantial differences in the positions of Ottos bottom four middle-most teeth. The teeth were moved backwards towards the tongue, in comparison to his teeth before he traveled to North Korea. Listening to [Trump] deliberate on this, said a State Department official, he sounded to me a lot more like a dad.. He had long been curious about other cultures and had previously visited intrepid destinations like Cuba. All King could do was wait for weeks while the Swedes' e-mails and calls were stonewalled. Nor is it to imply that the senior government official lied to The New York Times about the intelligence reports, as some analysts suggested to me; that person seems to have correctly described them. In fact, I discovered that the manner of Otto's injury was not as black-and-white as people were encouraged to believe. As the sun went down, a crowd waved handmade signs welcoming Otto home, and TV crews pushed their cameras against the bars of the perimeter fence. The Warmbiers were optimistic, up-by-their-bootstraps patriots, and they hoped that with American health care and their love, their son might again become the vivacious person he'd been when he left. Otto laughed, and then let himself be led away from Gratton through a wooden door beside the check-in area. The North Koreans were unilaterally informed that an American plane would soon land in Pyongyang and that United States diplomats and doctors would get off. A medical examiner has said that the body of Otto Warmbier, the American student who died days after being released from North Korea in a coma, displayed no obvious signs of torture, despite. In Seoul, one North Korean, who had endured three years at a low-level camp for trying to flee the country, wept as she told me: North Korean prisons are actually hell. The reports also show that a heavy pressure was applied to his teeth, resulting in bone loss after his arrest in North Korea. However, Yun kept butting his head against the North Koreans' argument: Otto committed this crime, so why should he escape due process? FILE - Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, has been detained in North Korea since early January, is taken to North Korea's top court in Pyongyang, North Korea, March 16, 2016. Even if North Korea didn't beat Otto, that doesn't mean that he wasn't tortured, as the mental suffering the regime inflicted on him constitutes torture under the U.N. definition. How did his brain damage occur? Next, Otto was likely to be imprisoned and his freedom used as a bargaining chip by the North Koreans to extract a visit from a high-level American dignitary or concessions in nuclear or sanctions negotiations. Anyway, this is some of the info I remember reading online a few years ago and it's probably info you've read as well. Within 48 hours of his return, Otto had a fever that had risen to 104 degrees. The Warmbiers are holding North Korea liable for economic and noneconomic compensatory damages for the suffering of their son and their own. The US student was jailed in Pyongyang in 2016 for stealing a hotel sign. When Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee sneaked over the North Korean border, Ling was struck as soldiers detained them. Postmortem inspection said his teeth were in natural and good condition. Fowle said, At one point [I was told I was not as] forthcoming as I should have been with my answers and [was asked], Would you like to be transferred to a place where conditions might be harsher?. The most used guesthouse is luxurious by local standardsdetainees can hear guards using its karaoke machine into the wee hoursbut Otto would have likely found its two-room suites roughly equivalent to those in a basic hotel. A senior American official asserted that, according to intelligence reports, Otto had been repeatedly beaten. The three Korean-Americans, all detained on charges of espionage or hostile acts against the state, had had almost no contact with the outside world since being arrested, and they all cried as they dictated messages for their families to Yun. But despite the experts' doubts, none of them could disprove the intelligence reports indicating that Otto had been beaten. And as if it weren't enough that he was prom king, his peers also anointed him with the plastic crown at homecoming. The likelihood that his brain damage happened immediately after the sentencing, however, raises the possibility that he may have attempted suicide. And despite exhaustive examinations by doctors, no definitive medical evidence explaining how his injury came to be would ever emerge. Charges filed against homeowner in shooting of Black teen, U.S. diplomatic convoy fired on in Sudan as intense fighting continues, Ohio officers won't face state charges in fatal shooting of Jayland Walker, Family in mourning after deadly Sweet 16 party shooting in Alabama, Nikki Haley's first-quarter fundraising came in lower than campaign claimed, Justice Department to seek longest sentence in any Jan. 6 case so far, Poll: Most say congressional GOP should let Trump probes run their course, Ron DeSantis unveils legislative move targeting Disney, U.S. arrests 2 over alleged secret Chinese police outpost in New York. In Pyongyang, rather, Bergman was squired around for four days to many of the same sites that Otto had touristedfrom the U.S.S. Yun explained, The North Koreans said we could send a delegation to see Otto, but that we would have to discuss some of the conditions of getting him out once we got there. And so Yun raced to assemble a diplomatic and medical team to save Otto. Could this really be Otto? Flueckiger wondered, for the body looked so different from the pictures he had seen of the homecoming king. Within the electrified fences of many of North Korea's notorious prison camps dwell up to 120,000 souls, condemned for infractions as minor as watching banned South Korean soap operas. Upon learning that Otto was apparently unconscious, President Trump had directed an American team to fly into North Korea, and now progress of the mission was being monitored at the highest level of the government. Tears spangled his eyes as he said to the assembled reporters, Otto, I love you, and I'm so crazy about you, and I'm so glad you're home. He blamed the Obama administration for failing to win Otto's release sooner, and thanked Trump. By then, Warmbier had served more than a year of hard. US student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean labor camp in 2016. All of which means that the full truth of what transpired is likely hoarded only by Kim Jong-un and his most trusted lieutenants, and that it may never get out. But on that June morning, the Warmbiers were anticipating news of a secret State Department mission to free Otto. In June 2017, he was released by North Korea in a vegetative state and died soon afterwards. When Trump won, Bergman and Richardson recognized a golden opportunity to free Otto la the release of American hostages in Iran at the beginning of Ronald Reagan's inaugural presidential term. Otto's arms and legs were totally deformed, according to his parents. . Warmbier's parents told a Fox News TV show Tuesday that North Korea tortured and "destroyed" him. But despite running in the popular circle given his athletic prowess, classic good looks and unending charisma, a classmate later wrote in a local newspaper, he still felt like everyone's friend. Though his family was well-off, he had a passion for memorabilia investing, as he called thrift-store shopping, and sometimes dressed in secondhand Hawaiian shirts. Flueckiger clapped beside Otto's ear. *A previous version of the caption misidentified the action being taken by Otto Warmbier. (Others have been kept at a different guesthouse, and at least three have stayed at a hotel.) The parents of Otto Warmbier have shared horrific details of his condition when he arrived home from North Korea. From that point on, the White House no longer focused on Otto's tragedy. Finally, Yun persuaded the North Koreans to let him see Otto. He couldn't even directly interface with North Korean officials because the two countries have never had a formal diplomatic relationship. Warmbier's family said. His parents did not cite a specific cause of death but blamed. When Trump learned of Otto's condition, he doubled down on the order for Yun to rush to Pyongyang and bring Otto home. 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