In their first interview since their son passed away, the parents of Otto Warmbier described the state their son was in when he was released from North Korea after spending over a year in a coma while imprisoned by the rogue nation.
Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labor after he tried to steal a sign from a hotel in Pyongyang, but almost immediately after sentencing, he fell into a coma. North Korea claimed Warmbier had contracted botulism. When his condition worsened, he was transferred to the U.S., where he passed away almost a week later.
Upon his arrival at an airport in Ohio, Warmbier’s parents boarded the plane and saw their son for the first time.
‘We walked over to the plane, the engines are still humming, they had just landed. … When we got halfway up the steps we heard this howling, involuntary, inhuman sound. We weren’t really certain what it was,” his father, Fred Warmbier said. They quickly realized it was their son.
“Otto had a shaved head, he had a feeding tube coming out of his nose, he was staring blankly into space, jerking violently. He was blind. He was deaf. As we looked at him and tried to comfort him, it looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth.”
Warmbier’s said that they were told their son was in a coma but that his condition was nothing like what they expected.
“We thought he was in a coma. You couldn’t call it a coma,’ Cindy Warmbier said. “I almost passed out but I got it together and I rode in the ambulance with him. I did not want him to be alone anymore. He’d been alone for way too long. We stayed with him and loved him as best as we could.”
Warmbier was transferred to a nearby hospital, where he passed away six days later.
President Donald Trump tweeted about the segment, saying Warmbier’s was tortured “beyond belief” by North Korea.
Great interview on @foxandfriends with the parents of Otto Warmbier: 1994 – 2017. Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017
Trump’s tweet comes at a time of escalating tensions between the two nations. Yesterday, North Korea’s foreign minister said that the president had “declared war” on North Korea, via his rhetoric on Twitter.
H/T Daily Mail