UVA Student Released from North Korea; Has Been in a Coma for a Year?

[Anonymous]

The US shouldn't pay any restitution - he signed a paper saying he would behave in DPRK and he did something stupid. He should not have died for it, and I think the tour company is partly to blame.

As for him playing in the snow, with North Korean children...there's zero chance he did that of his own will so it says nothing of his character - though he sounds like a decent guy who made a very, very bad decision.

I've been to DPRK and everything is orchestrated. Your passport is held, and you have a minder, so that is plenty of warning to take their instructions seriously: don't throw out the paper, or put a coffee cup on it, don't take anything from the country, you must bow when instructed, etc. They tell you this up front and tell you that if you can't abide then you can be refunded before leaving.

DH and I think people under 25 shouldn't be allowed to go without a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The US shouldn't pay any restitution - he signed a paper saying he would behave in DPRK and he did something stupid. He should not have died for it, and I think the tour company is partly to blame.

As for him playing in the snow, with North Korean children...there's zero chance he did that of his own will so it says nothing of his character - though he sounds like a decent guy who made a very, very bad decision.

I've been to DPRK and everything is orchestrated. Your passport is held, and you have a minder, so that is plenty of warning to take their instructions seriously: don't throw out the paper, or put a coffee cup on it, don't take anything from the country, you must bow when instructed, etc. They tell you this up front and tell you that if you can't abide then you can be refunded before leaving.

DH and I think people under 25 shouldn't be allowed to go without a parent.

+1 All makes sense. Seriously, though, why did you go there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:regardless, I think US government should compensate Otto's parents with some $$. They could have kept Otto on live support for another year or more on taxpayer's money but decided it's meaningless.

Who says they cut off life support? Wouldn't it have taken weeks to die rather than a few days?

\

He was not on "life support".

Depends what you mean by life support. True, he was breathing on his own (lower brain function), but he obviously was being nourished through a tube. My point is that even if they withheld that, he could have lingered for weeks. I think he may have known on some level that he was home and "let go," but the more likely scenario is that he was near death anyway, and the final plane trip overtook him. Such a sad story, either way.

[b]Apparently his family said that when he arrived in Cincinnati he seemed distressed, but that he started calming down over the following days. His parents think he knew on some level that he was back home.

[b]That's somewhat soothing, if in fact he did know he was home, but a horrible fate nonetheless. May he RIP.[/quote

+1. He was laid to rest yesterday. The Post wrote a great article, if you missed it. What a loss to the world, he sounds like a great guy. His siblings spoke at the funeral and pictures were shown of him throwing snowballs with children in North Korea. He preferred hugs to handshakes and loved to give unexpected gifts to people.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/22/lets-bring-it-in-otto-warmbiers-family-and-friends-celebrate-his-life/?utm_term=.23981e641eab

Thanks for the link....just read the article. What a heartbreaking story - and what a wonderful young man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cold frosty bitch. If it were your own kid ...you wouldn't say this....I know, I know...your precious snowflake would have NEVER done something like this

Anonymous wrote:he did this to himself

he stole a flag and paid the price.

Just the fact that it is illegal to take a stupid poster of a horrible man down in some parts of this world and that poor boy lost his life because of it shows that this planet is hell. Human beings are stupid and evil. That young man should be alive. North Korea's stupid laws killed him.

stupid laws and evil, insane, Godless leader

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The US shouldn't pay any restitution - he signed a paper saying he would behave in DPRK and he did something stupid. He should not have died for it, and I think the tour company is partly to blame.

As for him playing in the snow, with North Korean children...there's zero chance he did that of his own will so it says nothing of his character - though he sounds like a decent guy who made a very, very bad decision.

I've been to DPRK and everything is orchestrated. Your passport is held, and you have a minder, so that is plenty of warning to take their instructions seriously: don't throw out the paper, or put a coffee cup on it, don't take anything from the country, you must bow when instructed, etc. They tell you this up front and tell you that if you can't abide then you can be refunded before leaving.

DH and I think people under 25 shouldn't be allowed to go without a parent.

His parents have never asked for restitution so I am not sure why this is continuing to be discussed. It was interesting to read about your visit there though. Did you go through the Young Pioneers tour group? If not, I'm not sure you can project that his experience was exactly like yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:regardless, I think US government should compensate Otto's parents with some $$. They could have kept Otto on live support for another year or more on taxpayer's money but decided it's meaningless.

Who says they cut off life support? Wouldn't it have taken weeks to die rather than a few days?

\

He was not on "life support".

Depends what you mean by life support. True, he was breathing on his own (lower brain function), but he obviously was being nourished through a tube. My point is that even if they withheld that, he could have lingered for weeks. I think he may have known on some level that he was home and "let go," but the more likely scenario is that he was near death anyway, and the final plane trip overtook him. Such a sad story, either way.

[b]Apparently his family said that when he arrived in Cincinnati he seemed distressed, but that he started calming down over the following days. His parents think he knew on some level that he was back home.

[b]That's somewhat soothing, if in fact he did know he was home, but a horrible fate nonetheless. May he RIP.[/quote

+1. He was laid to rest yesterday. The Post wrote a great article, if you missed it. What a loss to the world, he sounds like a great guy. His siblings spoke at the funeral and pictures were shown of him throwing snowballs with children in North Korea. He preferred hugs to handshakes and loved to give unexpected gifts to people.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/22/lets-bring-it-in-otto-warmbiers-family-and-friends-celebrate-his-life/?utm_term=.23981e641eab

Thanks for the link....just read the article. What a heartbreaking story - and what a wonderful young man.

+1

[Anonymous]

Will we ever find out what really happened?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will we ever find out what really happened?

Do the details really matter? NK is a crazy paranoid place that thinks everyone is spying on them. A dumb college student pushed boundaries because they didn't realize they danger they were in and ended up suspecting of spying and likely was injured in interrogations and treated brutally and horribly for his period of incarceration. This is a tragedy, I don't think he deserved this, but this was not unforeseeable. At the end of the day young naive kid got caught by a crazy totalitarian dictator. Tragedy ensued. End of story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cold frosty bitch. If it were your own kid ...you wouldn't say this....I know, I know...your precious snowflake would have NEVER done something like this

Anonymous wrote:he did this to himself

he stole a flag and paid the price.

Just the fact that it is illegal to take a stupid poster of a horrible man down in some parts of this world and that poor boy lost his life because of it shows that this planet is hell. Human beings are stupid and evil. That young man should be alive. North Korea's stupid laws killed him.

stupid laws and evil, insane, Godless leader

Irrelevant. In fact, many more leaders have killed in the name of god.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cold frosty bitch. If it were your own kid ...you wouldn't say this....I know, I know...your precious snowflake would have NEVER done something like this

Anonymous wrote:he did this to himself

he stole a flag and paid the price.

Just the fact that it is illegal to take a stupid poster of a horrible man down in some parts of this world and that poor boy lost his life because of it shows that this planet is hell. Human beings are stupid and evil. That young man should be alive. North Korea's stupid laws killed him.

stupid laws and evil, insane, Godless leader

Irrelevant. In fact, many more leaders have killed in the name of god.

Irrelevant to you; relevant to me.

[Anonymous]

Trump is a godless leader. Anyone who argues otherwise is stupid as hell.

[Anonymous]

Trump criticizes Obama for not bring Otto home earlier. Will he bring home the other detained Americans in North Korea or he doesn't care because they are of Korean origin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trump criticizes Obama for not bring Otto home earlier. Will he bring home the other detained Americans in North Korea or he doesn't care because they are of Korean origin?

DGAF

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trump is a godless leader. Anyone who argues otherwise is stupid as hell.

Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trump is a godless leader. Anyone who argues otherwise is stupid as hell.

We were discussing NK's leader.