COMING HOME

U.S. Student Otto Warmbier Released From North Korea

22-year-old reported to be in a coma from botulism during hard-labor sentence.

U.S. citizen Otto Warmbier has been released from imprisonment in North Korea after 17 months. According to his parents, Warmbier has been in a coma for at least a year. CNN reported the 22-year-old University of Virginia student contracted botulism and is in “bad shape.” Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March 2016 for alleged anti-state acts. “We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime in North Korea,” said Fred and Cindy Warmbier in a statement. “We are so grateful that he will finally be with people who love him.” Last year, Warmbier publicly confessed to stealing a North Korean propaganda banner. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he secured the student’s release at the behest of President Trump and that Warmbier is on his way back to the U.S. to reunite with his family. The State Department is in talks with North Korea about the release of three other detained Americans.