Cincinnati, OH – The parents of a young Ohioan who was detained in North Korea for more than a year and died soon after being released said Tuesday he was “jerking violently,” howling, and “staring blankly” when he returned home on a medical flight.
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Fred and Cindy Warmbier appeared on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” morning TV show amid an escalating war of words between the Trump administration and North Korea. A North Korean official has claimed President Donald Trump has, in effect, declared war, which the White House denied.
Otto Warmbier’s father said they wanted to speak out about his condition after hearing North Korea claiming to be a victim that’s being picked on.
“North Korea is not a victim. They’re terrorists,” he said. “They kidnapped Otto. They tortured him. They intentionally injured him. They are not victims.”
The parents described the condition his family found him in when they went aboard an air ambulance that arrived June 13 in Cincinnati. They said Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, was howling, making an “involuntary, inhuman sound,” ”staring blankly into space jerking violently,” and was blind and deaf with his head shaved. Fred Warmbier said his mouth “looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth.”
Fred Warmbier said Otto’s mother and sister ran off the plane at the initial sight of him.
“We weren’t prepared … no mother, no parent should ever have gone through what we went through,” Cindy Warmbier said. She said it was “inexcusable” that her son had been alone in captivity for so long with no one to comfort him. She said she “got it together” and stayed with him after his arrival.
President Trump tweeted about the family’s appearance, calling it “a great interview” and that: “Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea.”
Fred Warmbier also said Otto had a large scar on his right foot and a high fever.
He died less than a week after returning at University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Doctors there said he arrived in a state of “unresponsive wakefulness” and had suffered a “severe neurological injury” of uncertain cause.
North Korea has denied mistreating the youth, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster. He was arrested that January as he prepared to leave the country after visiting as a tourist.
Yes and it was one of Trump’s great accomplishments . He brought a tortured victim home and ended the suffering of Otto. The warmbier’s admitted straight out that under obama they go nowhere. It was Trump that ultimately assisted them.
Even if you hate Trump, give the man credit for this just Like I give Obama credit for getting Bin laden.
So sad! As a parent who has lost a child my condolence to these wonderful people. Saddest thing in this wold.
Is you can get 15 years hard labor for stealing a poster worth 5 cents, then you should know outs not a great place for a holiday.
The savage, barbaric, North Koreans, also tortured,beat, starved, and mistreated, the U.S. sailors from the USS Pueblo, from January,1968, until December, 1968. The Pueblo is still being held in North Korea, and is a propaganda museum. They also shot down an unarmed American reconnaissance aircraft in 1969, in international waters, killing dozens of American airman. At that time, there was no retaliation. Also, they savagely killed several American soldiers with an ax, without any provocation. They are not nice people; the dictator killed his own uncle, with an artillery piece, and had agents poison his half brother. Routinely, he has his own citizens executed for trivial offenses. His country maintains dozens of torture/death camps , where entire families are imprisoned, and tortured.