CINCINNATI (AP) — The Latest on the death of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier after months of detention in North Korea (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
A public funeral service for a U.S. student who was detained in North Korea and eventually released in a coma has been scheduled for Thursday at his hometown high school in Ohio.
Twenty-two-year-old Otto Warmbier (WORM’-bir) died in Cincinnati on Monday, not long after his return to Ohio after nearly a year and a half in North Korean captivity.
The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group and was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor.
Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum in Cincinnati says all who wish to join his family in a celebration of life are “cordially invited.”
He was salutatorian of his 2013 Wyoming High School class before attending the University of Virginia.
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10:45 a.m.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in says North Korea must bear “heavy responsibility” for the death of a 22-year-old U.S. college student it detained for nearly a year and a half.
He said in an interview on “CBS This Morning” broadcast Tuesday that while it’s not known for sure what happened, there can be speculation that North Korea made “unjust and cruel treatments” to Otto Warmbier. He died Monday in Cincinnati. Moon expressed condolences to the Warmbier family and the American people.
He said Warmbier’s death shows “we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime,” but that dialogue with the North is still needed because sanctions and pressure haven’t resolved the North Korea nuclear issue.
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10 a.m.
U.S. Sen. John McCain says Americans who are “stupid” enough to still want to visit North Korea should be required to sign a waiver absolving the U.S. government of any blame if they’re harmed while there.
The senator from Arizona says, “There should at least be a form for them to fill out that says, ‘If I go to North Korea, I understand I am taking great risk, and I do not hold the American government responsible.'”
He says “if people are that stupid that they still want to go to that country, then at least they assume the responsibility for their welfare.”
U.S. college student Otto Warmbier died Monday, days after his release from North Korea.
McCain is the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
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8:30 a.m.
The coroner’s office in Cincinnati is investigating the death of an American college student who died less than a week after his return from North Korea, where he was detained for nearly a year and a half.
A spokesman for the Hamilton County coroner says Dr. Lakshmi Sammaraco’s (LAK’-schmee sam-MAHR’-rahk-oh) office has accepted the case of Otto Warmbier, who died Monday in a Cincinnati hospital. Justin Weber told The Associated Press on Tuesday morning that a press conference is expected later to provide details.
Wambier’s parents did not cite a specific cause of death, but cited “awful, torturous mistreatment” by North Korea. Doctors had described Warmbier’s condition as a state of “unresponsive wakefulness” and said he suffered a “severe neurological injury” of unknown cause.
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12:55 a.m.
The China-based travel agency that organized a trip to North Korea for an American college student who died after being released in a coma from North Korean detention said it would no longer take U.S. citizens to the country.
Young Pioneer Tours said Tuesday on its Facebook page that the death of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier shows that the risk American tourists face in visiting North Korea “has become too high.”
Warmbier died in Ohio on Monday, days after being released by North Korea.
The tour operator said that it was denied any opportunity to meet with Warmbier after his detention, and that the way it was handled was “appalling.”
The travel agency specializes in North Korea tours and is based in the central Chinese city of Xi’an.
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12:25 a.m.
The family of an American college student who died days after being released from North Korea in a coma says the 22-year-old “has completed his journey home.”
Relatives say Otto Warmbier died Monday. They did not cite a specific cause of death.
Doctors had described Warmbier’s condition as a state of “unresponsive wakefulness” and said he suffered a “severe neurological injury” of unknown cause. He arrived in Ohio on June 13 after being held for more than 17 months.
The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group.
He was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labor. His family says it was told he had been in a coma since soon after his sentencing.
