Tag: Otto Warmbier

Is White Privilege to Blame for Otto Warmbier’s Death?

| June 23, 2017

Leave it to the social justice warriors to connect the death of Otto Warmbier to so called “white privilege”:

As shocked as I am by the sentence handed down to Warmbier, I am even more shocked that a grown man, an American citizen, would not only voluntarily enter North Korea but also commit what’s been described a “college-style prank.” That kind of reckless gall is an unfortunate side effect of being socialized first as a white boy, and then as a white man in this country. Every economic, academic, legal and social system in this country has for more than three centuries functioned with the implicit purpose of ensuring that white men are the primary benefactors of all privilege. The kind of arrogance bred by that kind of conditioning is pathogenic, causing its host to develop a subconscious yet no less obnoxious perception that the rules do not apply to him, or at least that their application is negotiable.  (…..)

As I’ve said, living 15 years performing manual labor in North Korea is unimaginable, but so is going to a place I know I’m unwelcome and violating their laws. I’m a black woman though. The hopeless fear Warmbier is now experiencing is my daily reality living in a country where white men like him are willfully oblivious to my suffering even as they are complicit in maintaining the power structures which ensure their supremacy at my expense. He is now an outsider at the mercy of a government unfazed by his cries for help. I get it.  [Huffington Post via reader tip]

What is interesting is that there have been far fewer white people detained in North Korea than other races which the author makes no mention of in her article.  There has been 16 American detainees in North Korea since 1996.   Five were white, eight were ethnic Koreans, one black and one hispanic.  I have long recommended against traveling to North Korea, but many Americans have traveled there with no issues.  The biggest reason Americans have been detained is because of religious reasons, or in the case of Euna Lee and Laura Ling sheer stupidity.

This actually makes Warmbier’s detention very different from all the others.  What we don’t know is was Warmbier told by someone in the hotel he could have the poster in order to have an excuse to arrest him?  It seems pretty insensitive to me to blame so called “white privilege” when all the facts of why he was detained and what happened to him are not known.

Otto Warmbier’s Death Could End US Tourism to North Korea

| June 22, 2017

I have been saying this for years that US tourism to North Korea should not be allowed and unfortunately the death of Otto Warmbier may be the spark that finally causes an end to Americans being allowed to visit North Korea:

Warmbier’s treatment and death has served as a wake-up call to both those who join and organize tours to North Korea. In an emotional statement, Young Pioneers Tours said: “The way his detention was handled was appalling, and a tragedy like this must never be repeated … Considering these facts and this tragic outcome we will no longer be organizing tours for U.S. citizens to North Korea.” Uri Tours, a U.S.-based tour company also offering trips to North Korea, said it was “reviewing its position on [North Korea] travel for American citizens.”

They may not have a choice. Although the State Department already warns in strong terms against North Korean travel, last month Republican and Democratic U.S. congressmen introduced a bill that would ban American tourists from traveling to North Korea as tourists and require special permission for other visits, citing at least 17 Americans detained by the regime over the last decade. “With increased tensions in North Korea, the danger that Americans will be detained for political reasons is greater than ever,” Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Joe Wilson said in a statement.  [TIME]

You can read more at the link.

Otto Warmbier’s Parents Critical of Obama Administration After Sons Death

| June 21, 2017

I think it is unfortunate that the death of Otto Warmbier is taking on a political tone:

His parents told The Associated Press the day of his release that they wanted “the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime.”

Fred Warmbier praised his son’s “performance” and President Donald Trump’s administration. He was critical of the approach to his son’s situation taken by former President Barack Obama’s administration.

In a White House statement, Trump said, “A lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents.” He called North Korea a “brutal regime.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he offered his prayers as Warmbier’s parents “enter a time of grief no parent should ever know,” and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Warmbier’s death “touches the American heart like no other.”  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link, but the some in the far right are now blaming former President Obama for Warmbier’s death.  First of all we don’t know what effort the Obama administration put into getting Warmbier’s release.  Maybe they did try and what the North Koreans wanted in return was completely unreasonable.  Maybe we will hear more from former Obama administration officials in the coming days on what happened.  However instead of blaming President Obama it seems the blame should completely go on the Kim regime for Warmbier’s death.

Doctors Says Otto Warmbier Has Severe Neurological Injury

| June 16, 2017

Here the latest on the medical status of Otto Warmbier after his release from a North Korean prison:

A man believed to be Otto Warmbier was transferred from an airplane to an ambulance at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati on Tuesday.

An American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea and returned to his home state of Ohio in a coma suffered a “severe neurological injury,” a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday.

Otto Warmbier is in stable condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with his mother by his side, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Martin said. Doctors planned an update later Thursday.

His father, Fred Warmbier, said he does not believe North Korea’s explanation that the coma resulted from botulism and a sleeping pill. He said there was no reason for North Korea to keep his 22-year-old son’s condition a secret and deny him top medical care.

Fred Warmbier called his son’s return bittersweet.

“Relief that Otto is now home in the arms of those who love him and anger that he was so brutally treated for so long,” he said at a news conference at Wyoming High School, where Warmbier graduated in 2013 as class salutatorian and played soccer. Blue-and-white ribbons in the school’s colors were tied around the trees and utility poles all the way along the city’s main road in a show of support.

To honor his son, Fred Warmbier wore the same jacket Otto wore when North Korea presented him before the media in March 2016 at an event where he tearfully confessed that he tried to steal a propaganda banner while visiting the country.

Fred Warmbier said that he doesn’t know why North Korea released his son but that the country doesn’t do anything out of “the kindness of their hearts.” He called on the country to release other Americans currently held there.

“There’s no excuse for the way the North Koreans treated our son,” he said.

Warmbier also accused North Korea of luring Americans to the country with a Chinese tour company making the false promise they will never be detained.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link, but I don’t buy the botulism claim either considering the North Koreans are saying he went into a coma the day after his sentencing.

That leads me to believe one of two things happened; a guard could have possibly struck him in the head which the New York Times is reporting that US intelligence have reports of him being beaten.   Another possibility is maybe he was so depressed from a 15 year jail sentence and beatings that he had a botched suicide attempt?  Either way the Kim regime is responsible for what happened and should be held accountable for it.

American Detainee Otto Warmbier Released By North Korea for Medical Reasons

| June 14, 2017

Here is another one of those only in North Korea stories:

Otto Warmbier last year in North Korea apologizing for his theft.

University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier has been medically evacuated from North Korea in a coma after being detained for 17 months, his parents told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

Warmbier, 22, is due to arrive home in Cincinnati on Tuesday evening, having been evacuated through a U.S. military base in Sapporo, Japan.

Warmbier has been in a coma for more than a year, since shortly after his last public appearance during his trial in Pyongyang in March 2016.

“Our son is coming home,” Fred Warmbier told The Post on Tuesday morning after Otto Warmbier was evacuated. “At the moment, we’re just treating this like he’s been in an accident. We get to see our son Otto tonight.”  [Washington Post]

You can read much more at the link, but readers my remember Warmer was the guy who visited North Korea and tried to steal a Kim regime propaganda poster off the hotel wall and received a 15 year prison sentence.  The sentencing was obviously completely inappropriate for the crime, but like I have said repeatedly that is the risk that any American going to North Korea takes and why no one should travel there.

With that said I hope Warmbier is able to recover from the botulism he received while in captivity likely from food poisoning.  It is horrible that the Kim regime allowed Warmbier to be in coma for a year before having him released for proper medical treatment.  Additionally the Kim regime is now trying to take media attention away from their treatment of Warmbier by allowing top US diplomat to North Korea Dennis Rodman to visit North Korea at the same time.