Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday morning North Korea released University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, an American who had been detained for 17 months.
The Washington Post reports Warmbier, 22, has been medically evacuated from North Korea in a coma.
Warmbier had been in a coma for more than a year. According to the Washington Post, Warmbier’s parents were told their son had become sick with botulism — a rare poisoning caused by toxins — soon after his trial, and had been given a sleeping pill, from which he never woke up from.
Warmbier was charged with “hostile acts against the state” for trying to take down a propaganda poster, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Tillerson put out a brief statement Tuesday morning, in which he said Warmbier had been released at the direction of President Trump.
The secretary of state said Warmbier is en route to the U.S., where he will be reunited with his family. Warmbier is from suburban Cincinnati.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, celebrated Warmbier’s release in a statement to the press, but condemned North Korea for “its abhorrent behavior.”
“Fred, Cindy and the Warmbier family have been remarkably strong throughout this ordeal,” Portman said. “Over the last 18 months, they have had to endure more than any family should have to bear. In the days and months ahead, I would urge everyone to continue to lift them up in prayer and to respect their privacy.”
“Otto’s detainment and sentence was unnecessary and appalling, and North Korea should be universally condemned for its abhorrent behavior,” Portman added. “Otto should have been released from the start. For North Korea to imprison Otto with no notification or consular access for more than a year is the utmost example of its complete failure to recognize fundamental human rights and dignity.”
Three American citizens remain detained in North Korea, and Tillerson said the U.S. “continues to have discussions” about those cases.
