What the hell was he doing there in the first place?
He was with a tour group.
Some on fr like to blame him for this. It is rather cruel to do so imo. He only knows what he’s told and most tour groups make it through just fine. He made a simple error that put him through earths version of hell. I could not be more sorry for him.
What the hell was he doing there in the first place?
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-back-otto-warmbier-s-strange-sad-trip-n77380
He had planned to study abroad in his third year of college in China and heard about Chinese travel companies offering trips to North Korea. His parents were OK with it.
“Otto’s a young, thrill-seeking, great kid who was going to be in that part of the world for a college experience,” Fred Warmbier explained.
The U.S. State Department warns against travel to North Korea. While nearly all Americans who have been there have left without incident, visitors can be suddenly seized and face lengthy incarceration for what might seem to them to be minor infractions. A state-run news agency released a short, grainy video with a shadowy, unrecognizable figure that purported to show Warmbier taking the banner down from the wall of his hotel.
There have been critics at home of Americans who venture into the unfriendly country, leaving themselves open to becoming pawns. Ohioan Jeffrey Fowle was detained in 2014 when he intentionally left a Bible in a night club. Fowle was freed after six months; he said he was kept isolated most of the time but not physically abused. He and others freed from North Korea have said they were coached and coerced into giving a confession there.
Former National Basketball Association star Dennis Rodman gets warm receptions there. When he arrived on his latest visit the day of Warmbier’s release, there was immediate speculation about his role. But officials in Washington and Pyongyang said he had none.
Young Pioneer Tours described itself as providing “budget tours to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from.” They also included Iran, Iraq and former Soviet countries.
He booked a five-day tour for late December 2015 and was in the process of leaving on Jan. 2 2016, to return to China when he was detained.
A British member of the Young Pioneer tour group who was Warmbier’s Pyongyang hotel roommate, Danny Gratton, told The Washington Post last week that he never heard or saw any hint that Warmbier planned or did anything wrong. He called him mature and very polite.**
Warmbier was abruptly pulled out of the airport security line, Gratton said. He didn’t resist or seem scared, he recalled, and gave Gratton a half-smile as he was led away.
“He was just a young lad who wanted a bit of adventure,” Gratton told The Post. “Every once in a while they single out someone to make a point, and this was just Otto’s turn. It’s so sick and warped and unnecessary and evil.”
Warmbier’s father has accused the tour company of helping lure Americans to North Korea. The company has claimed Warmbier was the first to be arrested of the 7,000 people it had taken to North Korea.
What happened to Otto Warmbier after his sentencing might never be known outside the reclusive country. \\
**There was a WAPO article stating that Danny was never contacted by US authorities for his account...Does not seem like they were trying very hard...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/06/15/otto-warmbiers-north-korea-roommate-speaks-out/?utm_term=.d400c2d64311
Hmm...Family may have belonged to the wrong party...