Comatose college student released by North Koreans dies

The U.S. college student who was released last week by North Korea in a coma, died Monday afternoon at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Ohio. He was 22. “It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home,” his family said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.” The North Koreans sentenced Warmbier to 15 years of hard labor after convicting him of subversion for trying to steal a propaganda banner. North Korean authorities detained the University of Virginia student for more than 17 months before releasing him June 13 in a comatose state. Doctors in Cincinnati said Warmbier suffered from severe brain damage, but the cause of his injuries was not immediately clear.

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