Otto Warmbier Death Latest News: North Korea Denies Torturing US Student
The government of North Korea has denied torturing Otto Warmbier, an American student who was detained for 17 months and died just six days after being released in a coma.
Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in January 2016 after being convicted of stealing a propaganda poster from the staff-only area of a hotel he was staying at. Just months after his imprisonment, he suffered a severe neurological injury from an obscure cause.
North Korean authorities said Warmbier's coma was a result of botulism and a sleeping pill, despite the fact that physicians from the United States found no evidence of botulism. Hence, his parents and some U.S. officials blamed North Korea for his sudden death.
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However, the North Korean government strongly denied the accusations. According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), as cited by The Daily Mail, a spokesman for the North's National Reconciliation Council said claims that Warmbier was tortured and beaten in captivity were groundless.
"Our relevant agencies treat all criminals who committed crimes against (our) republic strictly based on domestic law and international standards, and Warmbier was no different," NRC said, adding, "The fact that Warmbier died suddenly less than a week after his return to the US in his normal state of health ... is a mystery to us as well."
NRC even accused South Korea of damaging Pyongyang's image with its "slanderous talk about cruel treatment and torture" while having no idea of the humane treatment Warmbier received.
Following the news of Warmbier's death, US President Donald Trump said that terrible things happened in North Korea but at least he died at home with his parents. He said Warmbier's fate deepens the current 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.
