US student Otto Warmbier has been freed from jail in North Korea, but his parents say he has been in a coma for a year.<\/p>\n
The US secretary of state said the 22-year-old was on his way home to the US.<\/p>\n
The Warmbier family told US media they had found out only last week that their son has been in a coma since shortly after his trial in March 2016.<\/p>\n
Mr Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for attempting to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel.<\/p>\n
Who is Otto Warmbier?<\/strong> He was in North Korea as a tourist with Young Pioneer Tours when he was arrested on 2 January 2016.<\/p>\n He gave a televised confession a month later, in which he said he had tried to take the sign as a “trophy” for a US church, adding “the aim of my task was to harm the motivation and work ethic of the Korean people”.<\/p>\n It was not clear whether he had made the statement voluntarily, but foreign detainees in North Korea have previously recanted confessions, saying they were made under pressure.<\/p>\n After a short trial on 16 March, Mr Warmbier was given a 15-year prison sentence for crimes against the state.<\/p>\n His parents Fred and Cindy told CNN earlier this month that they had had no contact with their son for more than a year. What is his condition now?<\/strong> They were quoted by the Washington Post as saying they had been told Otto contracted botulism, a rare illness that causes paralysis, soon after his trial in March 2016.<\/p>\n He was given a sleeping pill, and has been in a coma ever since, the newspaper said.<\/p>\n Rodman in Pyongyang<\/strong> Mr Rodman is a friend of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and has made several visits to the country in recent years.<\/p>\n He said upon his arrival this time that he was in the country as a private citizen, and “my purpose is to actually see if I can keep bringing sports to North Korea”.<\/p>\n Three other US citizens remain in custody in North Korea.<\/p>\n They are 62-year-old Kim Dong-chul, a Korean-American missionary; Korean-American professor Kim Sang-duk (or Tony Kim); and Kim Hak-song, who worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST).<\/p>\n US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in his statement, said the US state department “continues to have discussions” with North Korea over the remaining three detainees.<\/p>\n He said they would make no further comment on Mr Warmbier “out of respect for the privacy” of his family.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" US student Otto Warmbier has been freed from jail in North Korea, but his parents say he has been in a coma for a year. The US secretary of state said the 22-year-old was on his way home to the US. The Warmbier family told US media they had found out only last week that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[8166,8167,160],"yoast_head":"\n
\nOtto Warmbier is an economics graduate from the University of Virginia, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio.<\/p>\n
\nThey spoke out about their fears for his safety as tensions rose after North Korea carried out missile tests and US warships were deployed to the region.<\/p>\n
\nIn a statement, Fred and Cindy said: “Otto has left North Korea. He is on a Medivac flight on his way home.
\n“Sadly, he is in a coma and we have been told he has been in that condition since March 2016. We learned of this only one week ago.”<\/p>\n
\nMr Warmbier’s release comes hours after US basketball star Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea, but it is not clear if the two events are linked.<\/p>\n