US Student, Who Was In Coma While Detained In North Korea, Returns

US Student, Who Was In Coma While Detained In North Korea, Returns



Three Other American Citizens Are Being Detained In North Korea, At A Time When Kim Jong Un Has Been Firing Missiles And Threatening To Strike The United States.A Plane Carrying University Of Virginia Student Otto Warmbier, Who Had Been Detained In North Korea For 17 Months And Was In A Coma For Most Of It, Touched Down In Cincinnati On Tuesday Night.The 22-Year-Old's Return Marks An End To The Ordeal That His Family Has Been Through, Not Knowing What Had Happened To Warmbier Since He Was Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison With Hard Labor In March Last Year. But The Fact That He Had Been Kept, Comatose, In North Korea For More Than A Year Could Worsen The Already Tense Relationship Between Pyongyang And Washington.Friends And Well-Wishers Gathered Outside Cincinnati's Lunken Airport Terminal Ahead Of The Anticipated 10 P.M. Arrival Of The Plane Carrying Warmbier. Two Mobile Intensive Care Units Arrived At The Private Terminal Where His Family Was Awaiting His Arrival, And Drove Onto The Tarmac When The Plane Landed.Two Women Waiting Outside The Airport Fence Held Signs: "Welcome Home Otto" And "Prayers For Otto," And Said They Were There To Support His Family.Charlotte And David Simons, Who Said They Have Been Friends Of The Family For More Than 30 Years, Came To Watch His Flight Come In, Too. "We're Just Here To Support Cindy And Fred And The Family," Charlotte Simons Said.She Was Feeling "Sick To My Stomach For Them," She Said, Thinking Of How Their Son Should Have Been Graduating From College This Spring.David Simons Was Marveling That Another Country Could Treat An American Like This. "I Can Only Feel For What The Family Is Going Through," He Said, Shaking His Head.After A Senior State Department Official Flew To Pyongyang To Demand Warmbier's Release On Humanitarian Grounds, He Was Flown Out In A Medical Evacuation."We Get To See Our Son Otto Tonight," Fred Warmbier Said In An Interview Tuesday Morning After His Son Was Evacuated. "We'll Be Relieved To Have Him Home And Are Looking Forward To Surrounding Him With People Who Love Him."Warmbier's Parents Hadn't Heard From Or Seen Him Since He Was Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison With Hard Labor In March Of Last Year For Attempting To Steal A Propaganda Poster At The End Of A Five-Day Tour Of North Korea.But Amid The Relief, There Were Also New Questions About What Happened To Him: How Did A Healthy Young Man Fall Into Such A Deep Coma? The North Korean Government Told His Parents That Food Poisoning Was To Blame. And How Does The Trump Administration Respond?Three Other American Citizens Are Being Detained In North Korea, At A Time When Kim Jong Un Has Been Firing Missiles And Threatening To Strike The United States. President Donald Trump Has Been Vowing To Exert "Maximum Pressure" On North Korea To Make It Abandon Its Nuclear Weapons Program But Has Also Dangled The Prospect Of Talks With Kim, Whom He Called A "Smart Cookie."Warmbier Was Flown Out Of North Korea On The Same Day That Dennis Rodman, The Controversial Former Basketball Star, Arrived For His Fifth Visit To Pyongyang.Officials Involved In Securing Warmbier's Release Told The Washington Post That It Had Nothing To Do With Rodman's Trip To Pyongyang, Calling It A "Bizarre Coincidence" That Might Have Been A Deliberate Ploy From North Korea To Distract From Warmbier's Condition."Dennis Rodman Had Nothing To Do With The Release Of Mr. Warmbier," Said Heather Nauert, A State Department Spokeswoman, Adding That The Government Was "Thankful" That He Would Soon Be Home In His Parents' Arms.She Also Reiterated The State Department's Travel Advice Against Going To North Korea, With Which The United States Has No Diplomatic Relations."Let Me Reiterate This: We Strongly, Strongly Suggest That Americans Do Not Go To North Korea," Nauert Said.At The Time Of His Arrest, Warmbier Had Been On An Organized New Year's Tour In North Korea, A Five-Day Stopover On His Way To Hong Kong For A Study-Abroad Trip.But On His Final Night In Pyongyang - New Year's Eve - He Apparently Went To A Staff-Only Floor Of His Hotel And Attempted To Take Down A Large Propaganda Sign Lauding The Regime. He Was Charged With "Hostile Acts Against The State."Surrounded By North Korean Guards, Warmbier Delivered A Highly Scripted "Confession" That Appeared To Have Been Written For Him, And After An Hour-Long Sham Trial In March 2016, He Was Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison With Hard Labor.He Had Not Been Seen In Public Since, And Swedish Diplomats, Representing U.S. Interests, Had Been Denied Consular Access To Him.



TODAY NEWS WhatsApp Group Invite - https://goo.gl/twSLDv

TODAY NEWS Google Plus - https://goo.gl/dArpF5

TODAY NEWS Blogspot - https://goo.gl/VQxshV