You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Student Otto Warmbier Dies, Following 17-Month Imprisonment in North Korea

HeadlineJun 20, 2017

University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier has died, a week after he was released from a North Korean prison and returned to the United States in a coma. On Monday, Warmbier’s family said in a statement, “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.” Warmbier was imprisoned for more than 17 months for trying to steal a propaganda sign at a North Korean hotel. North Korea claims Warmbier fell into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill. But American doctors said they found no evidence of the illness in his system.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top