Fred Warmbier also said he didn’ t believe North Korea’s explanation for why his son was in a coma.
Otto Warmbier’s father said Thursday he does not believe North Korea’s explanation for why the 22-year-old University of Virginia student is in a coma, credited the Trump administration for freeing his son, and criticized the Obama administration’s advice to the family “to keep a low profile.”
At a sometimes-emotional news conference at Wyoming High School in Wyoming, Ohio, just outside Cincinnati, Fred Warmbier, who wore the jacket his son wore during his televised confession in North Korea, said: “We don’ t believe anything that they [North Korea] say, ” adding his son had become “fodder” for the regime.
The comments deepen the mystery of what happened to Otto Warmbier after he was convicted in March 2016 by a North Korean court for “anti-republic activities”—stealing a propaganda sign from his hotel. Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was not heard from soon after his conviction. Upon the news of his release and medical evacuation this week, Warmbier’s parents said the North Korean regime had alleged Warmbier was stricken with botulism and upon consuming a sleeping pill, fell into a coma. Images of his return to the U. S. saw a limp body being escorted from the aircraft he was flown in on.
“I’ m proud of Otto, and the courage he showed by going to North Korea, ” Warmbier said, “and having that adventurous side to him … so the fact that he was taken and treated this way is horrible, and it’s tough to process.
