This man is pleading for his life i entirely beg you people and government of the DPR korea
for your forgiveness he committed a crime in one of the most dangerous countries on the planet the
democratic people's republic of north korea but it's what happened after he was arrested that
shocked the world this is his story meet otto warmbier an all-american young guy from ohio
he grew up like many young american men he graduated second highest in his class at high
school and when it came time for him to go to college he decided to study abroad in hong kong
in 2016 while studying in hong kong he got a very rare opportunity the chance to visit the most
closed-off country on the planet he got invited to take a tour of north korea he booked it with
a company named young pioneer tours their slogan being we take you to destinations your mother
would rather you stayed away from otto was curious about north korean culture and wanted to meet the
people of this hermit state so on december 29 2015 he flew from hong kong to beijing and then
into north korea he was with a fairly large tour group which included 10 other u.s citizens they
had planned to spend five days in north korea they saw the sites had lots of food and drinks
and witnessed the amazing new year's eve fireworks show in pyongyang at 2am on new year's day otto
attempted a challenge many tourists had done before that is the fifth floor challenge otto and
his tour group had been staying at the yanggakdo hotel in north korea the hotel is famous for
its secretive fifth floor this is the staff only floor by trekking the elevator many tourists have
gone to this secret floor before it has the staff living quarters and propaganda posters all over it
it's very different from the rest of the hotel it also has the hotel surveillance center in it
as well every room of the hotel has listening devices and cameras inside them normally when
tourists are caught on the 5th floor they're simply told to leave they pretend to be confused
tourists and they don't get in any trouble but that was not the case with otto warmbier otto
decided to take one of the propaganda posters in the staff only area as a rare souvenir he did this
at around 2 am on new year's day otto continued his trip and everything went as normal that was
until the 2nd of january 2016. otto and his tour group were at pyongyang international airport
they were about to get on their plane to leave but that's when two guards came over and simply
tapped otto on the shoulder they said no words but they made it clear otto had to go with them at the
time one of otto's friends on the tour group said well that's the last we'll ever see of you him
and otto both laughed because they assumed it was simply a security check but there was a dark irony
to what his friend had just said because it was in fact the last time anyone on that tour group
saw otto ever again the rest of the tour group left the country but otto remained in north korea
news of his arrest was soon broadcast on north korean tv north korea's news agency kcna simply
said he'd been arrested for a hostile act against the state for six weeks they refused to even say
what he'd done wrong that was until february 29 2016 a very bizarre press conference was held
about otto otto and many north korean police were present otto had to read from a prepared statement
that was written for him he admitted to stealing a propaganda poster from the hotel's fifth floor
i understand the severity of my crime i have been very impressed by the korean government's
humanitarian treatment of severe criminals like myself his confession may have been forced but
he was clearly terrified about what his fate may be he begged the north korean government
and people for forgiveness i entirely beg you people and government of the dpr korea
for your forgiveness but none of this was enough he was charged with the crime of subversion
but despite all of his pleading otto was given no sympathy from the north korean courts for simply
taking a poster he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor he would do this at one of north
korea's famous prison camps back in the us the american government was trying to get otto freed
otto's parents spoke out many times in the media saying that the government was not doing enough
they said they had asked obama and the department of state but they had been no help whatsoever
their son was still stuck in a north korean prison unable to contact anyone on the outside
otto remained in prison for about one and a half years but behind the scenes negotiations
between the new american government and north korea were taking place and soon
it was announced that north korea had released otto you may think that's where the story ends
but it's after otto's release when things really went downhill a north korean spokesperson said
otto had contracted food-borne botulism and had fallen into a coma after taking a sleeping pill
north korea had not tried to help otto and had simply ignored his medical condition
eventually otto was taken to pyongyang friendship hospital a special plane from the u.s was then
flown to north korea to take otto back home otto was still in a coma on this medical plane
the plane landed in the usa and otto was back on american soil but he was still in a coma and there
were no signs of recovery after a few days otto began breathing on his own and blinking his eyes
but he was still in a vegetative state meaning that he had no awareness of his surroundings
he also couldn't move nor speak according to a brain scan he had lost lots of brain tissue
this likely meant otto was deprived of oxygen many believe this was a form of torture used on him by
north korea otto's father held a press conference saying he wasn't sure what had happened to his son
but he stated that he did not believe anything the north korean government had told him
on june 19th 2017 at 2 20 pm otto warmbier passed away he was 22 years old his family released a
statement expressing their sadness and president trump blamed north korea for otto's passing
north korea responded saying that they were the biggest victim of otto's passing and said that
it was all a smear campaign against north korea according to many experts north korea's treatment
of otto caused him to pass away otto may have stolen a propaganda poster but north korea stole
his life a funeral was held for otto at his high school more than 2 500 people attended and many
politicians all over the us condemned north korea this led to the us government banning any american
tourists from visiting north korea in april 2018 otto's parents sued the north korean government
they accused north korea of torture and murder north korea did not contest the case in court
and because they did not respond they were found guilty by default judgment north korea
was ordered to pay 501 million dollars in damages to otto's parents but of course there's no real
way to enforce this however in 2019 a north korean cargo ship was seized this was then sold on by the
us government with the proceeds going to otto's family but no amount of money can ever bring otto
back otto's parents have to live with the fact that their son's life was taken by the north
korean government north korea is a fascinating country and the ordinary citizens are probably
great decent people but it's sad they have to live under such an authoritarian and evil government
hopefully one day things will change in the hermit kingdom but right now the kim dynasty continues to
rule north korea with an iron fist but now it's time for you to make your voice heard would you
like to visit north korea or are you too scared after hearing stories like this if you want to see
my short videos then check out my second channel i've been Charlie thank you for watching leave
a like if you enjoyed and if you haven't already then what are you waiting for subscribe to Top 10s