I bet he did attempt to hang himself. Any external signs (ligature marks) would have long healed since it happened in April 2016. And it's definitely possible that he wouldn't have sustained damage to his spine that would still be apparent on x-ray.
By all accounts he was REALLY goal-oriented and unusually career and future-oriented. His friends said he was known for being that way.
Suddenly he lost all of that. There was no graduating from college, let alone getting a job in finance or the CIA or whatever. It makes complete sense that he would respond by trying to kill himself. After all he was still a young guy. Frontal lobe not fully formed. Still in that impulsive stage of youth. He lost everything. Not surprising at all he would attempt to kill himself.

Then he was stable (although unresponsive) for a year and then for some reason NK decided "hey this guy isn't getting better, in fact he's looking worse. We need to ship him back".
And so he arrived on US soil and either the trip was traumatic and he developed pneumonia (very likely given he's not clearly his own secretions, etc and people in a vegetative state actually need a lot of day-to-day care to remain healthy and certainly he was getting none or less of this on a airplane)
OR somehow subconsciously his body knew he was "home" and allowed him to pass on (also not unreasonable as sick and even unconscious people hang on all the time until they say goodbye to the right family member or whatever).

We should reduce the amount of our dollars we give to China, if we're upset about NK. China is backing NK.

Let's get real and stop funding the bastards.

Anonymous wrote:Is there any knowledge of what North Korea is telling it's people about this case and what happened to auto? I am wondering how it is disgusted there.

I suppose they're just sharing the botulism nonsense, but I am very curious as to how the case is being perceived among people with in North Korea and what they would think about it. I suppose we don't have access to that type of information.

I'd bet that the general public in North Korea has never heard of this unfortunate young man. There is no free media and all the information is strictly controlled. If they heard anything it would be the heavily propagandized version and no one would want to be heard criticizing the government.

Anonymous wrote:North Koreans can purchase radios in the black market capable of receiving S Korean commercial broadcasts not subject to jamming.

How many actually do that? I heard there's a huge black market for DVDs/videos of South Korean soap operas and dubbed American TV shows. Most of the illegal material consumed is escapism.

North Koreans can purchase radios in the black market capable of receiving S Korean commercial broadcasts not subject to jamming.

Anonymous wrote:Is there any knowledge of what North Korea is telling it's people about this case and what happened to auto? I am wondering how it is disgusted there.

I suppose they're just sharing the botulism nonsense, but I am very curious as to how the case is being perceived among people with in North Korea and what they would think about it. I suppose we don't have access to that type of information.

My guess based on my limited knowledge of North Korea is that it is not on the news and North Koreans don't know he was released. There is only one TV news channel and it is run by the State.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't help wondering if Otto tried to hang himself and that's how he got brain damage. Who would blame him.

I bet you wonder about a lot of crazy stuff. Watch yourself.

My DH is an ER doc and said the same. Why should pp "watch" herself?

Easy. It takes a special kind of crazy to "wonder" something like that. I wouldn't be surprised if that PP has some mental health challenges, either diagnosed or undiagnosed.

It's not crazy at all. The kind of injuries he had could only result from a few scenarios-attempted hanging was one of them. Torture or suicide.

I thought it couldn't be an attempted hanging because there would've been clear damage around the neck or the spine. I am in the camp of not believing it is necessarily auto who was on the video. If you look closely, the figures hooded and you can't even tell the gender, let alone that it was him. Additionally, the poster that they accused him of stealing is more like a large sign – he would not have been able to put it Securely in the luggage to bring it back to the US. It looked very sturdy and thick. Does anyone else not necessarily think it was him in the video? And he was framed?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pathetic that the Washington Post is now asking us to be sympathetic to the North Koreans suffering under their own fucking dictatorship. Maybe they ought to have enough courage, brains and balls to depose their dictator rather than glorifying him.

If their lives are so miserable, let's help them out and bomb them into oblivion. They deserve it, the miserable pieces of shit.

Good god. Pick up a book. Read about their lives. Read about what happens to dissenters. To dissenters family. Then shut up.

Also, they are brainwashed from the time they are toddlers. They truely believe the shit that's fed to them. I agree with PP that you should read some books written by people who lived there. It's a distopian fucked-up society and the citizens don't even realize it.

All the more reason their elimination from the planet would be a net gain, as they are beyond help or salvaging. The world would be much better without them.

You're advocating mass murder.

I think he's trolling. Just ignore him.

Why can't the United States retaliate when its citizen is brutally murdered by a hostile regime in the prime of his life?

If we start a war every time an American citizen is held prisoner by a non-democratic government, we would be in several wars at once. We have Americans wrongfully detained in Egypt, Iran and Venezuela, just to name a few.

And Trump hasn't done anything to free these American prisoners. Why not?

He did secure the release of 6 Americans from an Egyptian prison in April. Most of these Americans held in foreign prisons are dual nationals or of the descent of the country they are being held, therefore less sympathetic figures than a mid-Western college kid.

Is there any knowledge of what North Korea is telling it's people about this case and what happened to auto? I am wondering how it is disgusted there.

I suppose they're just sharing the botulism nonsense, but I am very curious as to how the case is being perceived among people with in North Korea and what they would think about it. I suppose we don't have access to that type of information.

I don't the US to spend one dollar or one minute trying to rescue citizens who visit countries like North Korea. Same for the people who attempt to sail around the world with inadequate training and supplies, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pathetic that the Washington Post is now asking us to be sympathetic to the North Koreans suffering under their own fucking dictatorship. Maybe they ought to have enough courage, brains and balls to depose their dictator rather than glorifying him.

If their lives are so miserable, let's help them out and bomb them into oblivion. They deserve it, the miserable pieces of shit.

Good god. Pick up a book. Read about their lives. Read about what happens to dissenters. To dissenters family. Then shut up.

Also, they are brainwashed from the time they are toddlers. They truely believe the shit that's fed to them. I agree with PP that you should read some books written by people who lived there. It's a distopian fucked-up society and the citizens don't even realize it.

Sounds like the Fox News crowd.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pathetic that the Washington Post is now asking us to be sympathetic to the North Koreans suffering under their own fucking dictatorship. Maybe they ought to have enough courage, brains and balls to depose their dictator rather than glorifying him.

If their lives are so miserable, let's help them out and bomb them into oblivion. They deserve it, the miserable pieces of shit.

Good god. Pick up a book. Read about their lives. Read about what happens to dissenters. To dissenters family. Then shut up.

Also, they are brainwashed from the time they are toddlers. They truely believe the shit that's fed to them. I agree with PP that you should read some books written by people who lived there. It's a distopian fucked-up society and the citizens don't even realize it.

All the more reason their elimination from the planet would be a net gain, as they are beyond help or salvaging. The world would be much better without them.

You're advocating mass murder.

I think he's trolling. Just ignore him.

Why can't the United States retaliate when its citizen is brutally murdered by a hostile regime in the prime of his life?

If we start a war every time an American citizen is held prisoner by a non-democratic government, we would be in several wars at once. We have Americans wrongfully detained in Egypt, Iran and Venezuela, just to name a few.

And Trump hasn't done anything to free these American prisoners. Why not?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't help wondering if Otto tried to hang himself and that's how he got brain damage. Who would blame him.

I bet you wonder about a lot of crazy stuff. Watch yourself.

My DH is an ER doc and said the same. Why should pp "watch" herself?

Easy. It takes a special kind of crazy to "wonder" something like that. I wouldn't be surprised if that PP has some mental health challenges, either diagnosed or undiagnosed.

It's not crazy at all. The kind of injuries he had could only result from a few scenarios-attempted hanging was one of them. Torture or suicide.

How about water-boarding? Is that a possible scenario?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't help wondering if Otto tried to hang himself and that's how he got brain damage. Who would blame him.

I bet you wonder about a lot of crazy stuff. Watch yourself.

My DH is an ER doc and said the same. Why should pp "watch" herself?

Easy. It takes a special kind of crazy to "wonder" something like that. I wouldn't be surprised if that PP has some mental health challenges, either diagnosed or undiagnosed.

It's not crazy at all. The kind of injuries he had could only result from a few scenarios-attempted hanging was one of them. Torture or suicide.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pathetic that the Washington Post is now asking us to be sympathetic to the North Koreans suffering under their own fucking dictatorship. Maybe they ought to have enough courage, brains and balls to depose their dictator rather than glorifying him.

If their lives are so miserable, let's help them out and bomb them into oblivion. They deserve it, the miserable pieces of shit.

Good god. Pick up a book. Read about their lives. Read about what happens to dissenters. To dissenters family. Then shut up.

Also, they are brainwashed from the time they are toddlers. They truely believe the shit that's fed to them. I agree with PP that you should read some books written by people who lived there. It's a distopian fucked-up society and the citizens don't even realize it.

All the more reason their elimination from the planet would be a net gain, as they are beyond help or salvaging. The world would be much better without them.

You're advocating mass murder.

I think he's trolling. Just ignore him.

Why can't the United States retaliate when its citizen is brutally murdered by a hostile regime in the prime of his life?

If we start a war every time an American citizen is held prisoner by a non-democratic government, we would be in several wars at once. We have Americans wrongfully detained in Egypt, Iran and Venezuela, just to name a few.