Warmbiers Blast Obama For Not Saving Son From DPRK

After the return of former North Korean prisoner Otto Warmbier, an American, the victim’s father expressed disappointment at President Barack Obama administration’s efforts to secure his son’s release.

​North Korea held 22-year-old Warmbier captive for more than a year before returning him in an unconscious state on June 13. He was reportedly in a coma and suffering from “extensive loss of tissue” in all parts of his brain, according to NPR.

North Korean captors reportedly explained Warmbier’s state with a diagnosis of a botulism bacterial infection, though American doctors have found no traces of such a diagnosis.

“We don’t believe anything that they say,” said Warmbier’s father Fred of the rationale of North Korean captors.

“He shows no signs of understanding language or responding to verbal commands,” said Dr. Daniel Kanter on Warmbier’s condition, according to Breitbart.

Fred went on to disparage the Obama administration’s efforts to save his son.

“When Otto was first taken, we were advised by the past administration to take a low profile while they worked to obtain his release,” said Fred.

“Earlier this year, Cindy and I decided the time for strategic patience was over, and we made a few media appearances and traveled to Washington to meet with Ambassador Joe Yun at the State Department,” explained Fred.

According to Fred, the Obama administration’s results “speak for themselves.”

“We’ve been to Washington, D.C. over a dozen times,” said Warmbier. “We met everyone in the past administration from John Kerry to the Swedish ambassador, Sternloff, who lives in Pyongyang. He came in town, we met his aide when he came in town. We’ve met our senators, our congressmen. We’ve worked with Governor Richardson.”

Warmbier’s father explained the circumstances surrounding his son’s trip to North Korea, and the dangers associated with such ventures.

“The North Koreans lure Americans to travel to North Korea via tour groups run out of China, who advertise slick ads on the Internet claiming no American ever gets detained off of our tours, and this is a safe place to go,” said Fred.

“So Otto’s a young thrill-seeking great kid who was going to be in that part of the world for a college experience and said ‘Hey, I’ve had some friends who have done this, I’d like to do this.’ So we agreed to let him do that.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on June 13 that the Trump administration continues negotiations “regarding three other U.S. citizens reported detained,” according to NPR.

Sources: Breitbart, NPR (2) / Photo Credit: Jette Carr via Jim Mattis/Flickr