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| Fred Warmbier, father of Otto, a University of Virginia undergraduate student who was imprisoned in North Korea in March 2016, speaks during a news conference at Wyoming High School in Cincinnati in June 15. / AP-Yonhap |
By Ko Dong-hwan
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| Otto Warmbier |
Family of Otto Warmbier, 22, who attended University of Virginia, blamed "torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans" as they informed of his death at 2:20 p.m.
The family said in a statement that because of how the military state had treated him, "no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today."
"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home, and we believe he could sense that," the statement said.
U.S. President Donald Trump condemned North Korea's "brutality" as he mourned the death of Warmbier.
"Otto's fate deepens my administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency," Trump said.
Warmbier was arrested in the North in January last year for stealing a political propaganda sign from a hotel. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
He was released last week. North Korean officials said Warmbier fell into a coma in March last year due to botulism and a sleeping pill.
Doctors said Warmbier had severe brain damage.
"It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost -- future time that won't be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person," the family said.
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