I agree. His arrest and trial were bizarre in the extreme and what appears to be a very tragic end to the tale is beyond what anyone could have imagined. The truth of what happened will probably never be known. North Korea is a very bad place.

(It doesn't matter at all but his is a very odd German name. Warmbier literally translated means warm beer.)

Yes, I was reading about this earlier. The article said that he's been in this state since just after his trial which is mind boggling. The whole fiasco was/is inhumane. I can't even imagine what his parents must be going through.

How did they feed him to keep him alive all this time?

I've also wondered how the North Koreans kept him alive. It is indeed sad....and I agree....why would anyone go there?

In the photo of him being carried off the plane, a tube seemingly connected to his face was visible. The image wasn't clear enough to see if it was for breathing or feeding but it may have been a nasal feeding tube.

I have been following this story from the start. Why on Earth would he go to N Korea in the first place and then do something so foolish as tear down that sign? It just boggles my mind. Nevertheless I feel the greatest sympathy for him and his family. What the N Koreans did to him was monstrous. I fear he will never be whole again What a heartbreak.

The LA Times reported that enroute to his study abroad in Hong Kong, he took a trip with a Chinese owned tour group to "places your mother does not want you to go." Parents worry about young people traveling and being unaware of potential difficulties and political and cultural differences that could cause problems. I do wonder how his parents approved such an excursion if they even knew about the group.

I have followed this off-and-on since it first occurred, since he was a student from the University where I work. Although the article said "he's been in this state since just after his trial" that is merely what North Korea has reported, and I am inclined to view everything North Korea says as untrue. The doctors here may determine more about what happened and when, and I think they have already shown that the "what happened" is likely different than what North Korea has said.

A niece of mine just returned from a "gap year" in which she traveled to many places around the world. Some of her stops seemed to me to be not-so-safe, in particular Zimbabwe where she volunteered at a lion rescue sanctuary. But even some of her other more generally safe stops like Ecuador, or Thailand or even Australia she could have run afoul of local laws, or local fauna, or unfriendly locals. I'm sure her parents were concerned for her safety and are happy she is home.

I read somewhere that the reason they charged and tried him so fast was because he actually had a video of himself urinating on the poster of Kim Jun Un and they couldn't risk him being able to tell anyone about it. Hence the trial and then the "accident" to permanently shut him up.

Poor boy. How many of us, especially when young, also did stupid stuff and got away with it? His luck ran out way too early :-(

Unless a free-world doctor can figure it out, we will never know what caused his coma.

One of the doctors who examined him in Cincinnati said "This study showed extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of the brain" and "Pattern of this brain injury is usually seen as a result of cardiopulmonary arrest".

Flamingo, the images I saw in the mainstream press showed clearly that what he attempted to take was a propaganda poster containing only writing in Korean characters (of course). Where does your information of an image of Kim come from?

I don't remember where I read it, I read several articles and lots of comments that day.

I am surprised they even returned him. Maybe as a deterrent to others.

I'd heard 'oxygen deprivation', which led me to think he tried to hang himself. It's what I'd attempt if faced with his sentence in North Korea. I would think North Korea wanted him alive, as a bargaining chip. Either they got their 'deal', or they just don't want to bother keeping him alive in this vegetative state.

You couldn't pay me enough to go to some places, even in my home area, and I am a *curious* person.