R.I.P. Otto Warmbier

[Pixelated]

Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old who was arrested and imprisoned in North Korea and who was recently brought home in a coma, has died.

I'm seeing a lot of posts saying "Why would anybody go there??" Personally, I'd rather take my chances in Saudi Arabia (and I'm female), but the kid paid one helluva penalty for a bad decision (or two bad decisions, if he did in fact try to steal a political poster).

Doctors say there is no evidence of beatings (nor of botulism, which is North Korea's explanation for his condition). We are not ever likely to learn the truth about what happened. I would be curious to hear Jeffrey Fowle's story about life in a North Korean prison (he was jailed for six months after deliberately leaving a Bible in a nightclub; he seems to have come out of it all right ... although it's also true Warmbier was jailed for three times as long).

And not to diminish the story, but is it just me, or is that headline very badly written ... ?

[Greenday]

He was in a fascist dictator state that hates Americans and he destroyed government property. What did he expect to happen? Laughs?

At some point, I don't feel bad because he put himself in a dangerous situation. I feel bad for his family and friends though.

[Pixelated]

Yes. When you are in a country run by a megalomaniac with absolute power, it's safe to assume there are no such things as minor offences. If he really wanted the poster that badly, why not just ask for a copy? They might have been willing -- even pleased -- to give him one (propaganda and all that, ya know).

I do feel (somewhat) sorry for him because he was relatively young (of course, compared to me these days, everybody is relatively young ... ). Was he naive? Yes. Stupid? Yes. But as I said, death is a helluva price to pay for naiveté and stupidity. Unfortunately there are a lot of news articles out there making it clear that some bad decisions are irreversible -- and fatal.

[s_stabeler]

considering the weakness and contraction of his arms & legs, and the neurological damage, I wouldn't be surprised if he had developed DVT, which then became a pulmonary embolism. Which was probably untreated- I doubt prisoners get particularly good medical care in North Korea- causing his death.

so it probably was NK's fault, although not from beatings, and probably has more to do with shitty conditions than specifically targeting him.