The university student Otto Warmbier sadly died this week after being released from North Korea.

Images VIA

Otto was originally sentenced to 15 years hard labour by the Hermit Kingdom for stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel. However, the country decided to medically evacuate Otto and send him back to the US.

It turned out that Otto had been in a coma since the day after he was sentenced and yesterday he tragically died. In a statement, the family said:

Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.

Now final pictures have been released of Otto enjoying the trip with his friends:

What’s weird is that his friends said that he never stole the poster in the first place and that he was in bed at the time of the alleged theft. Here’s what his roommate Danny Gratton said:

Otto was just a really great lad who fell into the most horrendous situation that no one could ever believe.

It’s just something I think in the Western world we just can’t understand, we just can’t grasp, the evilness behind that dictatorship.

Yeah, I mean it sounds like something that would happen in a George Orwell novel. You would think that trying to steal a poster would end in a slap on the wrist and even if you did get prosecuted, that the American government would have some power to set you free. Sadly with Otto’s situation this was not the case and he has lost his life as a result of this terrible incident. RIP Otto.

To see what it’s really like inside a North Korean prison camp, click HERE.