On August 9, the Supreme Court of the DPRK decided to release Canadian citizen Lim Hyun Su. A Canadian pastor was sentenced to life in camps a year and a half ago "for hostile acts" against North Korea.
In June 2017, the DPRK authorities pardoned another foreign prisoner, student Otto Wombier, for humanitarian reasons. While imprisoned, he fell into a coma and died shortly after returning home.
High-profile cases of detention of foreigners in the DPRK - in the RBC review.
Evan Hunziker (right), USA
In August 1996, the DPRK arrested American Evan Hunziker, who, drunk and naked, swam across the river on the border of China and North Korea on a dare. He was arrested and accused of espionage because his mother and ex-wife were citizens of South Korea. Hunziker was kept under observation at the hotel and released after negotiations and reimbursement of expenses. He returned to the United States, where he committed suicide a few months later. The reasons for his suicide were cited as alcoholism and drug problems, as well as the fact that he could not return to his ex-wife because an Alaska court had issued a restraining order against him meeting with her.
Robert Pack, USA
At the end of 2009, American activist of Korean origin Robert Park was detained in the DPRK for illegally crossing the border. He spent 43 days in prison before being released.
Later, in an interview, he said that in prison he was subjected to beatings, torture and sexual violence. According to him, after his release he was forced to undergo treatment in a psychiatric clinic.
Laura Lin (left) and Yuna Lee, USA
Otto Wombier, USA
In January 2016, during a five-day tourist trip to the DPRK authorities, American student Otto Wombier. For theft propaganda poster the student was sentenced to 15 years in the camps. In March 2016, he admitted his guilt.
In mid-June 2017, Wombier was released and sent to the United States. The DPRK explained his release on humanitarian grounds. As stated in Pyongyang, during his imprisonment the student fell ill with botulism. At the same time, American doctors reported that they found no signs of this disease in him after examination. North Korean authorities also said Wombier fell into a coma after taking sleeping pills. Already in a coma, he was handed over to the authorities in the United States. For treatment, he was sent to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he later died.
Kim Dong-chul, USA
In April 2016, a court in the DPRK sentenced American businessman Kim Dong Chol, who was accused of spying for South Korea, to ten years in prison. He was arrested in October 2015 during a meeting with a retired North Korean soldier. A month before the trial, at a press conference organized by the DPRK authorities, Kim Dong Chol admitted to an attempt at espionage, allegedly undertaken in collaboration with the South Korean military. There was no information about his release or further fate.
Lim Hyun Soo, Canada
On August 9, 2017, the Supreme Court of the DPRK accepted the decision of Canadian citizen Lim Hyun-soo on humanitarian grounds after almost a year and a half of imprisonment. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in a forced labor colony "for hostile acts" against North Korea in December 2015.
A Canadian pastor came to the DPRK “for humanitarian work.” According to investigators, he insulted “the dignity of the top leadership of the DPRK” and also tried to use religion to destroy the North Korean regime.
On June 20, 2017, media reported the death of American student Otto Warmbier, who had recently been brought to the United States in a coma after being imprisoned in North Korea.A serious scandal erupted throughout the world. Users social networks Both Russia and the West noted the senseless cruelty of the North Korean regime, and expressed grief over the untimely death of the young man.
Here is a typical news report about the death of Otto Warmbier, which contains information that shapes the majority opinion about the situation:
American student Otto Wombier, released in North Korea, dies
Earlier, the student’s father spoke about a serious deterioration in Otto’s health - he was diagnosed with damage to all parts of the brain.
The family of student Otto Wombier, who was brought to the United States from North Korea last week, announced his death, Reuters reports.
“Otto died today at 2:20 pm surrounded by his loving family,” the statement said.
Otto's loved ones accused North Korean authorities of "horrible torture" that left the student with "no other possible outcome."
As previously reported, doctors diagnosed Otto with severe damage to all parts of the brain and an irreversible process of tissue death.
Let us remind you that an American was convicted in the DPRK in March 2016 after attempting to tear down a propaganda banner. The US State Department secured the release of the student at the direction of President Donald Trump, and on June 13 the plane with Otto landed in Ohio
https://life.ru/1018863
North Korea tortured an innocent guy for tearing down a poster - this is how the average consumer of modern information products saw what was happening.
However, upon closer examination of the whole picture of what happened, the story ceases to look so clear. After all, natural questions arise: how did the unfortunate Otto end up in North Korea - a state for which the United States is the same aggressor as the Third Reich is for us, and why did he need to tear down a legally protected poster? And in the end, are Koreans really as “frostbitten” as the Western press makes them out to be? Did they really not have enough of a public trial and public tearful repentance of the defendant, a harsh sentence of 15 years of hard labor, and they also needed to torture Warmbier?
As one of my small investigations showed, information about North Korea is provided to us mainly by the South Korean liberal media, and this information is often very far from the truth.
So, let's look at everything in detail.
Student life of Otto Warmbier
Otto Frederick Warmbier was born on December 12, 1994 in Cincinnati, Ohio to an American-Jewish family, Fred Warmbier and Cindy Garber.
Fred Warmbier is the owner of the metalworking company Finishing Technology. The company is very successful: in September 2015, Forbes published two articles about it. At the same time, the material talks about Finishing Techology as a small business that has experienced sharp rapid growth, and how to cope with such dramatic success // Introducing A Small Business Owner Who Discovered Growth Is A Blessing And A Curse / Kelly Allan // https //www.forbes.com/sites/k ... How One Small Business Owner Dealt With The Stress Of Unexpected Fast Growth / Kelly Allan // https://www.forbes.com/sites/k ...
Fred Warmbier also appeared as a columnist for the New York Times, in the column “You're the Boss: The Art of Small Business Management.”
Warmbier Estate // http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new ...
Otto Warmbier graduated from Wyoming high school, after which he attended the University of Virginia, majoring in commerce and economics.
Otto Warmbier was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity, which is part of the association of student fraternities North America named with Greek letters.
Theta Chi at IUP @ThetaChiIUP
After nearly a year and a half, Otto Warmbier has been returned to US soil and reunited with his family. Welcome home Brother.
7:38 PM - 14 Jun 2017
12 12 Retweets 38 38 likes
Theta Chi headquarters in Virginia // http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new ...
Otto Warmbier was also an active member of the Virginia branch of Hillel, the worldwide Jewish student movement. Hillel is the largest Jewish youth organization in the world, promoting the revival of Jewish life, familiarization with the history, culture and traditions of the Jewish people. The goal of the movement is the formation of a new generation of educated and enlightened Jews who are proud of their heritage.
One of the events of the Hilel movement
Thus, in October 2015, Otto Warmbier held a meeting with Tel Aviv MP Etay Pincus // http://www.brodyjewishcenter.o ...
There are references to the social activities of Otto Warmbier within the framework of the Jewish Center of the University of Virginia, in the role of an environmentalist // http://www.brodyjewishcenter.o ...
How did Otto end up in North Korea?
According to Fred Warmbier, Otto was traveling in China in late 2015 when he was attracted by a travel company whose advertising shouted, “This is a trip your parents wouldn't approve of.” The company is called Young Pioneer Tours, based in Xi'an, and specializes in tours to North Korea.
Screenshot from Young Pioneer Tours website // www.youngpioneertours.com
Otto took a five-day New Year's tour of North Korea organized by Young Pioneer. In addition to representatives of other countries, there were 5 more American citizens in the group with Warmbier. During the trip, Warmbier stayed at the Yanggakdo Hotel in Pyongyang.
At the hotel, Otto Warmbier for some reason made his way to a floor where only the establishment’s staff were allowed to enter, and tore a propaganda poster from the wall that read: “Let us firmly arm ourselves with the patriotism of Kim Jong Il” // https://www.nytimes.com/2016/ 0...
Damaging such things is a serious crime in North Korea.
On January 2, 2016, Warmbier was arrested just before leaving the country at Pyongyang airport.
The remaining members of the tour group left the country without complications.
Warmbier was investigated and accused of stealing a propaganda poster from a restricted area of the hotel. Evidence of Otto Warmbier's guilt on trial became his own confession, surveillance camera footage, fingerprints, and witness statements.
On February 29, 2016, Warmbier gave a press conference at which he stated that he had stolen the poster in order to take it to the United States. He explained that a friend of his mother, a representative of a US-backed church in Wyoming, had ordered the poster as a souvenir. He was going to hang it on the wall of the church as a trophy. According to Otto, this “friend” offered a used car worth approximately $10,000 in exchange for the “service.”
If Otto does not return as a result of this prank, this “friend” will donate 200 thousand dollars to his mother in the form of charity. Warmbier testified that he agreed because his family desperately needed the money. Thanks to Forbes, you and I already know that this is a lie. We also know that Warmbier went to the provocation consciously, fully understanding the risk.
Otto Warmbier also stated that he was inspired by the prospect of becoming a member of the secret society "Z". This society has existed at the University of Virginia since 1892. His activities are kept under wraps as much as possible. It is known that only the most outstanding, rich and talented, who actively support the ideals of the university secret society, are allowed into it.
University of Virginia. Northern steps of the Rotunda.
Without going deeply into the theoretical jungle of the charters of each of the American student secret societies of elite youth, we can generalize that they are all mainly built on savoring the idea of exclusivity of rich white Americans. Many members of these secret societies subsequently find their way into the US military-intelligence and administrative elite, continuing to embody the long-standing ideals of American dollar exceptionalism.
During the press conference, Otto Warmbier sobbed loudly and asked the people of North Korea for forgiveness, declaring that he had made the most fatal mistake of his life by succumbing to the influence of the United States Administration.
Yes, you heard right. I quote verbatim:
I should never have allowed the United States Administration to drag me into committing a crime in this country. I would like the United States Administration to never manipulate people like me and force them to commit crimes against foreign countries. I beg you, the people and government of the DPRK, for forgiveness. Please! I made the worst mistake of my life! Please! Think about my family!
After this, the fate of Otto Warmbier changes dramatically. This is the last time we see him alive and well. No more press conferences, or any contact with the outside world.
On March 16, 2016, US Representative Bill Richardson meets with North Korean diplomats to negotiate Warmbier's release. Apparently, the negotiations did not work out for the Americans: two hours after this meeting, Otto was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
Why did Bill Richardson anger the North Koreans so much? Could he have done this on purpose? The questions, of course, will remain rhetorical.
But it is obvious: now Otto Warmbier, ruined by the Korean regime and arousing sympathy, would be clearly more beneficial to the anti-Korean propaganda of the West than he, who repented and started talking about those who ordered the provocation.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch called the verdict “shocking,” and US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that North Korea is using arrested American citizens for political purposes.
On March 18, 2016, the state-run Korean Central News Agency released footage of the incident.
The video that North Korea says proves US student tried to steal banner
North Korea has released video footage of what appears to be Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student being held in Pyongyang, removing a propaganda sign from a hotel wall.
The Independent Mar 18 2016
A year later, North Korean representatives informed the American side about Otto Warmbier's deteriorating health. According to them, the next month after the trial he fell ill with botulism. This is a severe toxicoinfectious disease characterized by damage nervous system, and is now very rare.
According to Pyongyang's statement, Otto Warmbier took a certain sleeping pill against the background of this illness, after which he fell into a coma. The origin of this pill is a shrouded mystery.
The new US President Donald Trump gave personal instructions to achieve Otto's release. Negotiations continued.
On June 12, 2017, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced Warmbier's release. At half past ten on the evening of June 13, Otto Warmbier was taken to Cincinnati, from where he was immediately admitted to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
Doctors determined that Otto had extensive brain damage, which may be more likely to be associated with a cardiopulmonary crisis than with head damage. They also noted that no traces of physical impact were found. Doctors stated that Otto Warmbier was in a vegetative state. That is, he himself breathed and blinked, but did not react in any way to the surrounding reality. An MRI showed extensive loss of brain tissue throughout the brain. Experts argued that this condition is typical after cardiac arrest, which caused brain hypoxia. No traces of botulism were found.
That same day, Frederick Warmbier gave a press conference in which he stated that he did not believe a word North Korea had said and that Otto's condition was the result of his mistreatment. At the same time, Frederick Warmbier blamed the Obama administration for the tragedy.
Otto Warmbier's Father Blasts Obama Administration // https://youtu.be/s_8gxigwNQQ
Otto Warmbier died in hospital on June 19, 2017, aged 22. US President Donald Trump expressed his condolences to loved ones.
A little later, Trump will again condemn the cruelty of the DPRK, mourning its new victim, and conclude: this cannot be allowed to happen again.
And here is the result: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Pyongyang of the death of American student Otto Warmbier and publicly promised to force the DPRK to answer for what happened // https://utro.ru/articles/2017/ ...
Who is guilty?
So who is to blame for the death of Otto Warmbier? The brutality of the North Korean regime? Technically, probably yes.
But weren't the American's actions, in turn, illegal? Let those who violate CRUEL laws, laws known in advance, carefully protected.
That mysterious “friend” from the government-backed church who encouraged yet another young activist to poke a stick at a hostile regime, promising in return to provide admission to elite secret societies, is truly guilty, be it a real person or some personification of the system.
After all, he knew how the Korean regime would respond, and he knew how beneficial it would be for whipping up anti-Korean hysteria and justifying NATO maneuvers. We are well aware of these standard American three-steps: to influence the system - to receive resistance from it - to use the resistance to propagate the “undemocratic” nature of the regime.
Watto Warmbier, it seems, turned out to be another “they are children” who became a bargaining chip in the geopolitical intrigues of the American administration.
Is it worth talking about the cruelty of North Korea here? It is what it is, and there is no point in coming there, flirting with local laws and teasing the state. Personally, it is completely clear to me why the DPRK society is so, one might say, paramilitary.
This statehood was formed as a result of certain historical processes, so cruel that complete mobilization, ideology and discipline became the only way to survive for the Korean people.
Let me just remind you: during the American occupation of Korea in 1950 - 1953, every fifth Korean was killed.
In 1948, the United States, South Korean rulers and circles in the Japanese leadership entered into a conspiracy against the people of the DPRK. At that time, in accordance with an agreement with the United States, the USSR withdrew its troops from North Korea, giving the Korean people, liberated from Japanese occupation, the opportunity to build their own statehood. On the territory abandoned by the Soviet Army, the Koreans created their own administration, headed by Kim Il Sung, the leader of the Korean partisans who made the greatest contribution to the liberation of the country from the Japanese.
However, the Americans not only did not withdraw their troops from South Korea, but also did not recognize the local people's authorities, creating their own military administration, replacing the Japanese occupation with the American one. Syngman Rhee formally became the leader of South Korea.
On June 18, 1950, J. Dulles inspected the troops of Syngman Rhee, and on June 25, Sunday, at four o'clock in the morning (familiar style), the pro-American forces of South Korea attacked the DPRK along the entire line of contact. Several divisions and individual units on different areas wedged two or more kilometers into the territory of North Korea, at which point the “march to the north” ended ingloriously. In a matter of hours, the advancing group of troops of Syngman Rhee was defeated. Kim Il Sung decided to counterattack, and the Korean People's Army moved south that evening. The very next day, the Korean People's Army stood under the walls of Seoul, and Syngman Rhee shamefully left the country, fleeing the capital.
In America they still claim that Kim Il Sung started the war by attacking the peaceful South Korea.
In response to this defeat, the Americans began one of the bloodiest wars in history. During three years they wiped out the Korean people from the face of the earth.
It is estimated that the United States dropped an average of 5 tons of bombs and shells per capita of one dead Korean, and 120 kilograms of ammunition per hectare of terrain (in World War II, this figure did not exceed 1 ton per person and 30 kilograms per hectare).
Napalm-drenched villages and towns eclipsed Nazi crematoria. Never before on our planet have so many people been killed and with such cruelty as the Yankees did in Korea. In essence, the United States sought to completely destroy the Korean nation as such.
In Korean territories temporarily occupied by the Americans, mass shootings and executions were constantly carried out. Medieval torture was used. In just a few months of American occupation, more than a million civilians were executed. Even Hitler could not organize genocide in the occupied territories on such a scale.
In gross violation of international law, the US Army used biochemical weapons on a massive scale. From January to April 1952, containers with poisonous insects and bacteria in more than a hundred cities and counties of the DPRK.
Not only the front line, but also the deep rear, peaceful cities, villages and fishing villages were subjected to napalm bombing. In addition, US troops pursued a policy of destroying the country's industrial potential. There was shelling of roads with refugees, peasants working in the fields, and other attacks on civilians.
The US Air Force carried out massive carpet bombings of cities and industrial enterprises, destroyed bridges, railway junctions and irrigation structures. Before the end of the war, as a way of putting pressure on the Korean side, American aircraft destroyed the dams on the Kusongan, Toksagan and Pujongang rivers. As a result, huge areas of agricultural land were flooded, causing famine among the civilian population of North Korea.
The commander of American air power in Korea, Curtis Le May, stated that the American Air Force “killed 20% of the population of Korea through war, famine and cold.”
Since then, for decades, small but proud North Korea has been subject to blockade, attempts at destabilization, and all kinds of attacks from the United States. North Korea has every right to be what it is and not allow anyone's external interference in its life.
The war crimes of American soldiers are depicted in paintings by Korean artists.
Tour to North Korea
Otto Wombier was a third-year student at the University of Virginia (USA). He received a double higher education in trade and economics. At the end of 2015, he went to China, where he was supposed to take part in a university program. There he noticed an advertisement for tours to North Korea from the travel operator Young Pioneer Tours.
According to Father Otto, Wombier was interested in this proposal because he was an adventurer. In comments to The Washington Post, Otto's friends also described him as "an insatiably curious person" as well as "a deep thinker who will challenge himself and others to question his place in the world."
Wombier's father subsequently accused Young Pioneer Tours of targeting young people from Western countries by marketing a trip to the DPRK as "a trip your parents won't like."
Logo of a travel agency that offered a trip to the DPRK. Photo: Young Pioneer Tours/Facebook
Wombier went on a four-day New Year's tour to North Korea. Along with him in the group were 10 other US citizens, as well as UK sales manager Danny Gratton, whom Otto met in Beijing before flying to Pyongyang. Gratton and Wombier became friends and shared a room in a Korean hotel.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Gratton said that he was with Wombier almost the entire time they were in the DPRK. In Pyongyang, tourists were accommodated at the Yangakto Hotel, the largest hotel in North Korea. They drank beer and celebrated New Year in the central square of Pyongyang, played snowballs with local children and had fun.
The British newspaper The Daily Mail published in June 2017 exclusive photos, which show Wombier's leisure time in the DPRK.
Gratton said he had no suspicions that Wombier was planning to commit a crime. Otto himself impressed him as “a very, very polite guy.”
Detention at the airport
On January 2, a group of tourists was supposed to return to Beijing. At Pyongyang airport, Gratton and Wombier were the last to go through security. There was a pause as they handed over their passports to the immigration officer before two North Korean security officers appeared, grabbed Wombier by the shoulders and led him into a separate room.
Gratton wryly told his friend, "Well, this is the last time we'll see you." And it turned out to be true: they never saw each other again. Gratton successfully passed the test and flew to Beijing with the group, while Wombier remained in Pyongyang.
Only 20 days later, North Korean authorities announced that the American student was detained for a “hostile act against the state.” According to Pyongyang, the crime was that Wombier, while in the hotel, entered the staff floor, removed a propaganda banner from the wall and planned to take it with him.
The banner read: "Let's arm ourselves with the patriotism of Kim Jong Il!"
In March 2016, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published a video of the “crime.” The footage shows a man removing a banner from the wall and placing it on the floor. The quality of the video does not allow us to determine that it is indeed Wombier in the frame.
VIDEO
The moment the propaganda poster was stolen, shown by North Korean media. Video: Breaking News Express 99 / YouTube
In addition to this video, his fingerprints, witness statements and the American's frank confession were provided as evidence in the Pyongyang court.
Press conference in Pyongyang
Sincere Confession Wombier did during his press conference on February 29, 2016. The American came to this press conference with a text prepared in advance. Whether he wrote it himself or did it under pressure from the authorities is unknown.
Wombier said that he “committed a grave crime against the people and government of the DPRK” by removing the political slogan from his office premises. This assignment, he said, he received from the United Methodist Church. He also received assistance from the Z Society, a charity at the University of Virginia that Wombier said is "closely linked to the CIA."
At his press conference, the student said his intention was to harm the "motivation and work ethic of the Korean people." He said that in September 2015 he met with his friend's mother, who worked as a deaconess in the United Methodist Church.
She allegedly told Wombier that “communism must end,” and since in communist countries “people rally around political slogans,” she asked Wombier to steal the slogan from the DPRK and hang it in his church as a “trophy.”
"She said that by stealing this slogan, we would harm the unity and motivation of the North Korean people and would be an insult to this country from the West," Wombier said. As a reward, the deaconess allegedly offered him a used car worth $10,000, and if he was arrested, Wombier's mother would receive $200,000 from the church.
Wombier in the Supreme Court of the DPRK.
"I regret my actions more than anything. I apologize to the Korean people and government. I beg you to forgive me and help save my life," Wombier told reporters. He called himself “a victim of the US’s hostile policy against the DPRK.”
“As an American detained for a serious crime in the DPRK, I feared that I would be tortured or psychological pressure. These were absolutely false thoughts. I am deeply impressed by the humane treatment of serious criminals like me by the DPRK government and the very fair legal procedures in North Korea. “More than anything in my life, I am ashamed that I committed a crime against such a friendly country,” Wombier said.
At the end of the press conference, the student cried, begging the DPRK authorities to forgive him and allow him to return home. “I hope the US administration will no longer manipulate people like me, forcing them to commit crimes against foreign countries,” he concluded.
Sentence, release and death
On March 16, 2016, a Korean court sentenced Wombier to 15 years in prison and hard labor.
In May 2017, Wombier's parents told Fox News that they had asked Washington to seek Otto's release in any negotiations with Pyongyang, but the administration of former US President Barack Obama insisted that the family keep their problem out of the spotlight.
With the coming to power of Donald Trump, the situation has changed. On June 12, 2017, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that he, too, was on his way to the United States.
By this time, Wombier was already in a coma. Medical records transferred from North Korea indicate that the student fell into a coma in April 2016. What exactly led to it is unknown.
American doctors discovered significant damage to Wombier's brain tissue. However, doctors did not find evidence that the neurological injury was caused by physical violence or torture: Wombier’s neck and head were not damaged.
Pyongyang officials claimed that the student fell into a coma as a result of contracting botulism and taking sleeping pills. Doctors from the University of Cincinnati found no signs of botulism.
Farewell ceremony for Wombier.
"The horrific, brutal treatment of our son at the hands of the North Koreans made any other outcome impossible," Wombier's family said.
US President Donald Trump noted that the United States “once again condemns the cruelty of the North Korean regime.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also demanded that Pyongyang release three other Americans still held in North Korea.
The DPRK Foreign Ministry responded by saying that Wombier and his sudden death are a mystery to Pyongyang. North Korea also accused Obama of refusing to negotiate and not asking for Wombier's release.
Following Wombier's death, Young Pioneer Tours stopped offering trips to North Korea to US citizens.
On June 22, at the high school from which Wombier graduated, a farewell ceremony for Otto was held, which was attended by more than 2,500 people.
"Nobody deserves this. He was just a young guy who wanted a little adventure," said UK sales manager Danny Gratton.
On Monday, June 19, at 21:20 Moscow time at the University of Cincinnati Hospital Otto Warmbier. Warmbier, 22, was released by North Korean authorities on June 13 “on humanitarian grounds.” He was evacuated from the DPRK in a coma.
Why was he convicted in the DPRK?
Warmbier, who arrived in North Korea on December 25, 2015 from Beijing as part of a tour group, was sentenced to prison for stealing a political poster. He tried to rip it off the wall in the hotel. At trial, he admitted his guilt and in March 2016 was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “attempting to undermine the unity of the Korean people.” In court, he called his action “the worst mistake of my life.”
Why did Warmbier fall into a coma?
The reason is currently unknown. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Warmbier had been in a coma since March 2016 after taking sleeping pills given to him in prison. North Korean doctors claim that the coma was caused by botulism* and sleeping pills, after which the American fell into a coma, but American doctors questioned this diagnosis, saying that Warmbier suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. The student's parents told The Washington Post that North Korea informed them that their son was diagnosed with botulism in March after the trial.
American doctors who examined Warmbier after returning to the United States said that they found no traces of botulism, but saw signs of a traumatic brain injury.
As a result, on June 19, the student’s family issued a statement about the torture Otto was subjected to in the DPRK.
Botulism (from Latin botulus - sausage) is a severe toxic and infectious disease characterized by damage to the nervous system, mainly the medulla oblongata and spinal cord. The cause of the disease is ingestion of food products, water or aerosols containing botulinum toxin produced by the spore-forming bacillus Clostridium botulinum. The infection spreads through the skin, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract. Recovery from the disease is long, depending on when the patient sought medical help.
