What happened to the death of American college students released by North Korea?

On the afternoon of June 19, the family of Otto Warmbier, an American college student released from North Korea, announced that his son Warmbier had died.

It is reported that Warmbier, 22, has been in a coma since he returned to the United States. Earlier, the DPRK claimed that the coma was caused by food poisoning, but Warmbier's father did not accept this statement. American doctors found no evidence of food poisoning, but found that Warmbier's brain was badly damaged.

Since his release from North Korea on June 13, Warmbier has been receiving treatment at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Ohio.

Warmbier was arrested for trying to steal a poster from a hotel during his trip to North Korea in June 20 16, and was sentenced to 15 years of reeducation through labor. After being detained for 17 months, after negotiations between the United States and North Korea, North Korea claimed to release Warmbier for humanitarian reasons.

However, on June 5438+05, American authorities claimed that Warmbier's nervous system was seriously damaged, and the related reasons could not be determined. Some American media even said more directly that Warmbier has become a "vegetable".

Warmbier's condition is "stable", but "his nerves are obviously seriously damaged".

At present, they are not sure what caused his nerve damage.

It is understood that in 20 15 12, Warmbier went to North Korea.

However, on 20 16 65438+ 10 1 day, he was arrested at Pyongyang airport on suspicion of taking down the billboard hanging on the hotel wall and bringing it back to the United States.

20 16 in March, the supreme court of the DPRK sentenced Warmbier 15 for conspiracy to subvert the state.

Warmbier's family had previously said that "Warmbier has been in a coma since he was sentenced to reeducation through labor in North Korea last March". On June 5438+05, Warmbier's father, Fred Warmbier, said at a news conference that he did not think that his son had committed any so-called "conspiracy to subvert the country" in North Korea, and that his son had been cruelly treated during his detention in North Korea for more than a year.

During Warmbier's detention in North Korea, Fred criticized the Obama administration for mishandling, trying to keep a low profile and failing to win the release of the hostages.

It is reported that when Obama was in office, Fred went to Washington dozens of times to meet with many officials, including then Secretary of State Kerry, but there was no result. Since the beginning of this year, he has been interviewed by the media for many times, and went to the State Council, USA, to meet with the US Special Representative for North Korea, Yin Rushang.

In response to Fred's criticism, Daniel Russell, former Assistant Secretary of State for the State Council, defended the Obama administration, saying that the Trump administration's approach in seeking North Korea to release American hostages was no different from before. Robert king, the former special envoy of the United States for human rights in North Korea, said that this is North Korea's problem, and Warmbier completely ignored the State Council's explicit reminder on the website: "strongly warned" American citizens not to go to North Korea.

Some US senators said that the US-DPRK talks are "increasingly difficult" as far as the current situation is concerned. Some media speculated that North Korea's release of Warmbier may be a signal to ease relations with the United States. However, Warmbier is currently in a coma, which may cast a new shadow on US-DPRK relations.

Senator rob portman, representing Ohio, met with diplomats from the United States, North Korea and Sweden several times to coordinate the release of Warmbier. He said: after North Korea's missile test, US-DPRK relations have further deteriorated, and the US-DPRK talks have become more and more difficult and it has become increasingly difficult to achieve results.