{"id":32379,"date":"2017-06-15T10:39:54","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T10:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=32379"},"modified":"2017-06-15T10:39:54","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T10:39:54","slug":"north-korea-says-american-detainee-warmbier-released-humanitarian-grounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/north-korea-says-american-detainee-warmbier-released-humanitarian-grounds.html","title":{"rendered":"North Korea says American detainee Warmbier released on humanitarian grounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Korea says American detainee Warmbier released on humanitarian grounds<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

North Korea said on Thursday it had released American citizen Otto Warmbier “on humanitarian grounds” after he had been held prisoner for 17 months.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warmbier, 22, a University of Virginia student from suburban Cincinnati, was medically evacuated to the United States on Wednesday. His family said he arrived in a state of coma.<\/span><\/p>\n

The North’s KCNA news agency said in a one-sentence dispatch that Warmbier’s release followed a court decision on Tuesday. It did not provide other details.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Under a decision by the DPRK Central Court of June 13, American citizen Otto Warmbier who was serving a sentence of labor was returned on June 13 on humanitarian grounds,” KCNA said. DPRK is short for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

His release came after Joseph Yun, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy on North Korea, traveled to Pyongyang and demanded Warmbier’s release on “humanitarian grounds,” capping a flurry of secret diplomatic contacts, a U.S. official said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warmbier’s parents, Fred and Cindy, confirmed their son was on a medevac flight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warmbier was detained in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March last year for trying to steal an item with a propaganda slogan, according to North Korean media.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warmbier’s family said they were told by North Korean officials, through contacts with American envoys, that Warmbier fell ill from botulism some time after his March 2016 trial and lapsed into a coma after taking a sleeping pill, the Washington Post reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

The New York Times quoted a senior U.S. official as saying Washington recently received intelligence reports that Warmbier had been repeatedly beaten in custody.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warmbier’s release came as former U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea on Tuesday, returning to the nuclear-armed country where he met leader Kim Jong Un on previous visits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-northkorea-usa-detainee-idUSKBN19609P<\/span><\/p>\n

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