North Korea Murdered Otto Warmbier

North Korea has murdered Otto Warmbier. He passed peacefully with his family at his side, on June 19, 2017, at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, in Ohio. He perished one week after the 22-year-old student was released from a North Korean prison and returned to the United States in a coma. The moments before he died may have been the only peaceful and painless moments the young man has had, as Warmbier was languishing in prison for the past 17 months.

Kim Jong Un’s Regime Is Guilty of Murder

Warmbier was murdered in a cold and cruel manner by Kim’s communist regime. There is little doubt that he was tortured, both mentally and physically, during his harsh time in prison. The official explanation for the young man’s condition was implausible:

The North Korean regime blamed his terrible health on a sleeping pill and a bout of botulism, a claim American doctors quickly debunked.

Doctors in the Cincinnati hospital have determined that Warmbier died from extensive brain damage most likely due to cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest would cut off the blood and oxygen supply to the brain. No one knows when his heart stopped, nor how long Warmbier was in a coma. North Korean officials claim that he became comatose over a year ago. If one trusts the word of a totalitarian communist maniac’s minions, that might be considered true. However, it is highly unlikely he would have survived in a coma for over a year in the North Korean prison system.

Kim’s Kangaroo Court Doomed Warmbier

Warmbier had been studying in China, when he decided to travel to North Korea with a tour group at the end of 2015:

The young man joined the “New Year’s Party Tour” run by Young Pioneer Tours, a company that boasts “budget tours to destinations your mother wants you to stay away from!”

While on the tour, he was arrested in Pyongyang, January of 2016, for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel. The former University of Virginia student did not stand a chance in Kim’s kangaroo court. His joke of a trial was concluded in less than one day. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for “committing hostile acts against North Korea.” Fifteen years in prison for a poster.

The conditions for the prison population in North Korea are horrendous. The rations of food are meager, about eight ounces per meal, though half of that is often stolen by the prison officers in charge. The work day is unimaginable to anyone in the United States. According to former prisoner Soon Ok Lee:

The prison workday began at 5:30 a.m. and concluded at 11 p.m. Everyone worked, ate, and went to the toilet in groups at the same time. Even when they were asleep, again in groups, for the four hours a night that was allowed, two prisoners would watch them and “report what the other prisoners said in their sleep.”

This bright and promising young man was doomed to a brutal existence in prison. He probably would never have lived to serve 15 years, even if he had not fallen into a coma.

Otto Warmbier Will Be Missed

The funeral for Warmbier was held on Thursday, June 22, 2017, at the Wyoming High School arts center in Ohio. He was the class salutatorian when he graduated in 2013.  The center was packed to overflowing as thousands lined the streets of the Cincinnati suburb to remember the popular and beloved student.

His brother and sister both spoke at the funeral service. Moreover, one of the key people instrumental in securing his release, U.S. Ambassador Joseph Yun, attended the service. Warmbier’s parents, Fred and Cindy, issued a statement shortly after losing their son:

It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost… We choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person.

It is impossible to calculate how much good “this remarkable person” might have accomplished. His potential was unrealized because of a tyrannical communist regime and their murderous intent. However, his death may help awaken the U.S. to the danger posed to Americans considering travel to this ruthless nation.

The U.S. Response

President Donald Trump issued these statements after learning of Warmbier’s death:

Otto’s fate deepens my Administration’s determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.

Additionally, Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who was a key figure in obtaining Warbier’s release, said:

North Korea [has] a “disregard for basic human rights, basic human dignity.” He said he suspected Warmbier was “denied basic medical care while detained in the reclusive country.”

The senator also held North Korea directly responsible for killing Warmbier, and stated:

This college kid never should’ve been detained in the first place.

These are serious charges to make publicly, however much Kim may ignore them. Charges serious enough that one congressman demanded North Korea be officially named a “state supporter of terrorism.”

Some U.S. government action has been taken. The Trump administration is placing new restrictions on Americans traveling to North Korea. Congress is working on a bill which would ban tourist travel to North Korea altogether.

Other Americans Unjustly Detained

Three other Americans are currently being detained in North Korean prisons. Two of them, Kim Hak Song and Kim Sang Dok, were formerly teachers at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. This is the only private university in North Korea. They were taken into custody earlier in 2017 for “unspecified crimes.”

The remaining American in prison is Kim Dong Chul. He was arrested in October 2015 and charged with espionage against the regime. He was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor. Shortly after his arrest, he publicly confessed he was a spy and was trying to spread religion in North Korea. Reports from former prisoners indicate that their own confessions were coerced while in prison. It is likely Kim’s confession was coerced also.

Sen. Portman and Ambassador Yun’s efforts to free Warmbier were conducted surreptitiously. There may be such efforts happening to obtain the freedom of these latest detainees. Hopefully, and with much prayer, these attempts will be successful before these unfortunate Americans meet the same fate as Warmbier.

Opinion News By D.T. Osborn
Edited by Jeanette Smith

Sources:

CINCINNATI.COM: Medical mysteries surround the end of Otto Warmbier’s life
CNN: Otto Warmbier funeral: 2,500 celebrate kid who would’ve ‘set the world on fire’
Conservative Tribune: Otto Warmbier Dead After North Korean Mistreatment
FOX NEWS: A look at Americans detained in North Korea in recent years
NEWSMAX: NKorea: We Have Right to ‘Ruthlessly Punish’ American Detainees
The Public Slate: North Korea Is Still Trying to Kill Jesus [Part One]
The Washington Post: Otto Warmbier’s father denounces North Korea as his son is treated for a ‘severe neurological injury’
The Washington Post: After Otto Warmbier’s death, tourism to North Korea comes under scrutiny

Featured and Top Image by Uri Tours Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License