By Safvan Allahverdi
WASHINGTON (AA) – An American college student who spent 17 months in a North Korean prison, died Monday, just days after he was released while in a coma, his family said in a statement.
“It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20pm [1820GMT],” the statement said.
“Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,” it added while thanking well-wishers and staff at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who helped care for Warmbier after he returned to the U.S. last week.
President Donald Trump offered condolences to the family in a statement that said, “Otto’s fate deepens my Administration’s determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency”.
The 22-year-old University of Virginia student was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years hard labor after he confessed to trying to steal a propaganda poster from a hotel in Pyongyang.
He fell into a coma shortly thereadter, according to his family.
The circumstances leading to his coma are unclear.
