The parents of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died after being released from a North Korean prison in June in an unconscious state, slammed the regime in Pyongyang Tuesday as “terrorists” and “not a victim.”
“They kidnapped Otto, they tortured him, they intentionally injured him, they are not victims, they are terrorists,” Fred Warmbier told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” describing, with his wife Cindy Warmbier, their feelings about the return of their gravely injured son.
“Now we see North Korea claiming to be a victim and that the world is picking on them,” he added. “We’re here to tell you that they’re not a victim, they’re terrorists.”
The Warmbiers recalled the harrowing details of seeing Otto aboard a military aircraft in Cincinnati, where he was transported after his release.
Photos: Thousands Mourn Otto Warmbier at Ohio Funeral
“We got halfway up the steps, we heard this howling, involuntary, inhuman, sound, we weren’t really certain what it was,” Fred Warmbier said. “Otto was on the stretcher… and was jerking violently making these inhuman sounds.”
“He was blind, he was deaf,” the grieving father continued. “It looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth.”
Cindy Warmbier revealed that the sight of her mangled son almost caused her to “pass out.”
“They destroyed him,” she added.
Warmbier was detained in Pyongyang in January 2016 while on a tourist trip to North Korea. He was charged with committing a hostile act against the government after officials said he had tried to steal a propaganda banner from a hotel and was convicted and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor.
The regime released him in June, and when he returned to U.S. soil, doctors found him to be in a state of unresponsive wakefulness. He died days later. Fred and Cindy Warmbier were told he had been in a coma since shortly after being sentenced.
Their account of Otto’s treatment comes amid Pyongyang’s continued nuclear provocations and as Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un ratchet up their war of words.
Trump tweeted praise for “Fox & Friends” Tuesday and wrote that “Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea.”