S9, Chapter 5: Homecoming

0:04 Tapes from the Dark Side contains descriptions of violence and sexuality. Listener discretion is advised before we jump into this episode. There's something I have to address, something rather major that I got wrong. It appears that in my excitement of finding the video of Calvin's son on the fifth floor of the Yangacto Hotel, overlooked an important detail, which is that Otto Warrenbier never said he went to the fifth floor. In fact, he said he went to the second floor. I asked my UK tour guide where they keep the important slogans in the Yangacto International Hotel. She said they're in staff only areas. That night, I alone walked around the second floor lobby until I saw a staff only sign in English opposite the hotel shop. Now, in my defense, I'm not the only one who got this wrong. The BBC and the Huffington Post both listed the floor that Auto visited as being the fifth floor. This doesn't really change much about our story, but I figured anyone paying attention was probably confused, So there it is. It was the second floor, not the fifth floor. On March sixteenth, twenty sixteen, Autowarmbier was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor. After the details in the last episode, I think you

1:34 can imagine what that means now. I've read about Auto's case on countless blogs, websites, the news article, comments, Facebook, and reddits, and it seems like many of you are just like me, perhaps less familiar with foreign policy, and are wondering why America, one of the most powerful military countries in the world, would allow one of our own citizens to spend a single day in a concentration camp, and going even further than that, why do we tolerate North Korea and their fascist regime at all? The answer, it's complicated. Anyone who's lived through the Iraq War witnessed firsthand the follies of attempting to quote liberate a country from a fascist dictator. And that's because anytime a dictator is removed, it creates a power vacuum, and usually what happens is a new dictator or government emerges, and many times the new regime is even more vicious than the last. In a similar vein the United States killed Osama bin Laden seemingly defeated the Taliban, but then in its place Isis emerged and almost took over the country of Iraq. And now we see the Taliban has regained control of almost the entirety of Afghanistan. There's also China, who very much has a vested interest in keeping North Korea stable. That's one of

3:06 the reasons they provide so much food aid to the country and why they work closely with the North Korean government to return defectors. China would not stand idly by if the United States were to attack their close neighbor, mainly because they do not want the economic burden of millions of refugees suddenly on their doorstep. When dealing with international hostage situations, which is effectively what the ottowarm Beier situation had become, you're playing a delicate game of cat and mouse where leverage is vital and one wrong move could ruin a potential deal. Now, it hadn't been long since the United States had successfully negotiated the peaceful release of two Americans from North Korea. In November of twenty fifteen, about one year prior to Auto's trip. Kenneth Bay, a Korean American missionary, and Matthew Miller, an alleged spy, were released, and Bay, like Auto, had been given a fifteen year sentence so there was hope. The United States government at the time, led by President Barack Obama, was in contact with the Warmbier family and they instructed them to be patient and trying to avoid controversy. And then perhaps the most frustrating part of the process began, the waiting game, during which the United States would hold a presidential election. As far as Auto Warmbier's story goes, not much else happened for the entirety of twenty sixteen,

4:36 and then in the early morning hours of November nineteen, the results of the presidential election were announced when the Associated Press called the state of Wisconsin and thus the presidential election for Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton had talked about this is a state that Hillary Clinton hasn't even visited since the Democratic Convention. This is a state that voted for Mike Decoccus over George H. W. Bush. I mean, this is a reliably democratic state. It is amazing to me. And this is not an original observation, but the idea that the Clinton campaign couldn't see white working class voters going to Trump in places like Iowa and Ohio and not see that Wisconsin was also potentially in jeopardy. That's remarkable and I mean this is this is truly the beginning of the end for Hillary Clinton Camp.

5:29 That was at two twenty nine am, and eight minutes later, at two thirty seven am, Hillary Clinton did what any freedom loving American patriot does in the face of defeat. She accepted the results. Despite winning the popular vote by nearly two million votes. Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump and personally conceded the election. Not only was the president changing, but the political color of the country was too, and this meant a potential big change of for Auto Warmbier and family, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for them. As for the entirety of twenty sixteen, there had been almost no developments in Otto's potential release. A few months later, Donald Trump was sworn into office January twentieth, twenty seventeen, and it seems that since that very moment, the tension between the United States and North Korea was raised to levels never before seen.

6:26 Now, Kim Jong un has made no attempts to obscure the fact that one of North Korea's main goals is building an intercontinental nuclear missile capable of reaching the United States, and in February, North Korea successfully launched a solid fueld ballistic missile from a submarine. Korea's latest ballistic missile launch is potentially more dangerous than any previous launches. US officials say the missile flew higher and longer than any previous tests. Just days earlier, the Director of National and sounded a warning North Korea is an increasingly grave national security threat to the United States because of its growing missile and nuclear capabilities, combined with the aggressive approach of its leader. The US intelligence community believes Kim Jong gun, who directly supervised the latest launch, is trying to prove he can strike the US. He has taken initial steps toward fielding a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile North Korea, claiming it's now within striking range of the US and can put nuclear warheads on this missile.

7:35 We will do test launches at any time, anywhere upon the decision of the Supreme Leadership. This latest launch does take Kim one step closer to an intercontinental strike capability. As you can probably guess, the United States was not too thrilled about this development, and according to President Trump's chief of staff at the time, John Kelly, behind closed door, the US top leadership was considering a preemptive nuclear attack on North Korea. Trump himself suggested that perhaps they could nuke North Korea and then attempt to pin the blame on another country. In April of that same year, twenty seventeen, the North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Hansong Riol said that an all out war would result if the US was reckless enough to use military means. He also said quote, if the US is planning a military attack against US, we will react with a nuclear pre emptive strike by our own style and method. Thankfully, for everyone inhabiting the planet Earth, that plan never came to fruition. Nuclear attensions seemed cool for the time being, and perhaps that's only because they had nowhere to go but down just as well. In June of twenty seventeen, an unlikely hero emerged in the Auto Warmber crisis. We hear from former NBA star Dennis Rodman on why he calls North Korean dictator Kim Jong un his friend. Rodman last visited the closed off country the same day American Otto warm Year, held by the

9:09 brutal regime for seventeen months, was released to his family. Rodman's team says that was no coincidence. Tonight, we explore the seemingly bizarre relationship between the despot and the basketball star. Here's ABC's Bob Woodruff. Individuals like former NBA player Dennis Rodman, who has become the United states most visible unofficial diplomatic presence, it would opened the door. Last week, Rodman made his fifth visit to North Korea. The same day he arrived, Otto was released. I didn't knew that I was a onest, supposed good and get him out. Rodman and his agent, Chris Volo, who accompanied the former NBA player on his trip, sat down with ABC's Michael Strahan for the first interview since their return. Otto Warrenbier was released the same day that you went to North Korean.

10:01 Give out to prayer and love to his family. You know. Dennis Rodman, the former forward for the NBA team the Chicago Bulls, visited Pyongyang and met with Kim Jong un, And that very same day, Otto Warren Beier was released and he touched down on US soil for the first time in seventeen months. On the morning of June thirteenth, twenty seventeen, Otto's parents, Fred and Cindy begin the day not even sure if their son was alive, and now they were suddenly met with his return. But with this came a new nightmare. Otto was alive, but he was hanging onto life by a mere thread. But I didn't know what he was sick. But he wasn't sick when he went there. He was fine. A year later, the same day you go over, he's released in a coma and this but this is in a place that you said, this guy who runs this play is your friend? How can that happen? And you still have these feelings and its sentiment said, oh my god, is guys my friend. I guess what I'm gonna die for this guy? Point it's not like that.

11:01 I don't look at the political about him. Do you think being there had anything to do with that? I was organizing the trip and I meet with the delicates here. I addressed Otto Warren Beer, and I said to them, we would need some type of good faith if we're ever going to do some type of future sports relation. I asked three times before you went, Before we went, I asked on behalf of dentist for his release. They said they understood. That was all that was said in that meeting. Annold's father said, Dennis Rodman had nothing to do with Auto. It's try it. It's a diversion. You know. They just released Otto. It's a diversion. We wanted to meet when him and we came back, you know, but we were told that, you know, just coldn't happen. Have you talked to anybody there and said, what happened with this kid? No, we haven't heard anything. But it's just mysterious. Dennis, a twenty one year old, healthy kid. All of a sudden he's in a coma.

11:54 That's not normal. Something apparently happened. No one wants to say what happened, but something happened. Well, like I said, I'm not into all that. Like I said, I was just so happy to see the kid released. Later that day. That's when we found out if he was ill. No one knew that. I was just so happy. I said, Way he got released, I said, he he has. We jumped coming down, all right, man, Great, some good things came out of this trip. Okay, great? Why did both of you do something that it's so controversial. I'm like, oh, no, no controversial person. I love it. You know, controversion makes bad, negative and good publicity for everybody in the world. People today would do anything on TV just to be on TV. If that part of your motivation on to be on TV or no play, that's I don't need to be on TV. I'm too damn famous for this. I'm not trying to stop cockey. It was my god, what am I? What am I getting out of this?

12:41 I'm going over there out of my kindness of my hors just to try to help. And next thing, you never to come back. Wow, why do I do that so bad? I'm not here to sit there and say, Okay, I gotta be I got it. So you know, with that being said and seeing you get a most note, do you think these trips you've taken have been worked? All the criticism? Absolutely? I think it's the State Department sees his involvement differently. Dennis Rodman had nothing to do with the release of mister Warmier. Governor Bill Richardson, who runs a foundation aimed at rescuing political prisoners, so as to personally met with the North Koreans to free Otto. North Koreans stiffed me. They never said yes, they never said no. Otto was in a coma and they didn't want anybody to know fifteen months in a North Korean prison camp would surely change anyone, but nothing could have prepared the warm beers for the state their son was in.

13:43 His wavy, sandy brown locks had been buzzed off, his head, bald, a feeding two placed in his nose. Fred and Cindy said that their son's arms and legs were totally deformed, and Fred said that it looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearrange his bottom teeth. Reports say that when Otto's sister saw her brother again for the first time, she ran out of the airplane, screaming in horror. Fred approached his son gave him a hug. Otto's eyes stared back at his father, wide open, alien empty. Fred shared how much he'd missed him, but aside from the occasional involuntary muscle spasm, Otto was unresponsive. His body was there, but Auto seemed far away. We went for fifteen months without a word from or about Otto. It was only a week ago that we were informed that the North Korean government now claims he was in a coma for almost all of that time.

14:54 There is no excuse for any civilized nation to have kept his conditions secret and denied him top notch medical care for so long. When Otto was first taken, we were advised by the past administration to take a low profile while they worked to obtain his release. We did so without result. Earlier this year, Cindy and I decided the time for strategic patience was over, and we made a few media appearances and traveled to Washington to meet with Ambassador Joe Yune at the State Department. It is my understanding that Ambassador Yune and his team, at the direction of the President, aggressively pursued resolution of the situation.

15:39 They have our thanks for bringing Otto home. I know you have many questions about what transpired, so do we We have few answers. There's no excuse for the way the North Koreans treated our son, and no excuse for the way they have treated so many others. Our family are basically happy, positive people, and we're going to stay that way. And we're thrilled that our son is on American soil. We're in the school that he thrived in, and I'm able to talk to you on Otto's behalf, and I'm able to wear the jacket that he wore when he gave his confession. Let's start there, miss warm Beer, if you don't mind tell me about the day.

16:37 Sure. But well, in the morning of the day that he was going to be medvacked home, Senator to Portmand said he'll be home tonight, and I said to him, can you tell me how Otto, how his how his brain is functioning. I were really optimistic people, and so we were just still hopeful that we would get Auto back and he could be like with he could improve and be okay. And centered Portman said it was severe brain damage. So, still not knowing what that entailed, we went to the airport. I'm gonna let Fred start. I'll tell you what it was like when we met Auto at the airport. We were in a waiting room and the plane comes in comes near to where we are. The medical team agrees they'll go out and meet Auto first, and then it's a great They come down five or seven minutes later and it's time for the family to go up and meet him. So we walk out to the plane. The engines are whining. It's myself, Cindy, Austin and GRETA. Halfway up the

18:15 stairs, we hear this loud, guttural howling in human sound. We don't know what it is. We get to the top of the steps and we look across in the airplane and Otto is laying on a stretcher. He's strapped to the stretcher and he's moving around and jerking violently, making these howling in human sounds. Gretta and Cindy go back, leave, go down the steps. It's too much for them to handle. Austin and I walk over to Otto and he's in this condition. He has a shaved head, his eyes are darting around in the there is big as saucers. He's blind, he's deaf, he's got a feeding tube. And we kneel down and we hug him and try to connect with him. And he's a complete vegetable and I and his bottom teeth looked like they had taken a pair of pliers and rearrange them. And so there was no comforting Otto, and this noise kept, he kept doing this. We weren't prepared for this at all. No one, no one could be had any idea going in there what we were going

19:45 to see. His hands and legs were totally deformed, and he was you know, you want to say, you want to say, this was not our son. This was our son, and we're proud of him. Yeah, but this was our son, and this was a condition that Kim and his regime intentionally put him in. How I'm listening to you and I'm just trying to how did he die? How did he die? Specifically? Hasn't it explained to you? Oh? You mean in the well? Oh sure. Two days after Otto came home, his fever spiked to over one hundred and four degrees. Otto had this huge scar on his right foot. He was he was on his deathbed. When he was when he came home to us. This was not a pleasant sight. Was released. They didn't want him to die on their soil. Be right back after this break, stay with us. If our story wasn't already weird enough, it takes another turn.

21:18 Unsurprisingly, the North Korean regime denied torturing Auto. Their explanation for the appalling state that he was returned in was that just a few months after his capture back in twenty sixteen, Auto suddenly contracted botulism that coupled with a sleeping pill caused an adverse reaction, and Auto suddenly fell into a coma. North Korea, though claimed that he was kept in excellent medical condition during his coma, and Kim Jongoon even issued the United States a bill for Auto's medical treatment to the tune of two million dollars, of which Donald Trump insisted the United States wouldn't pay a dime Outo was quickly hospile bitalized once he reached the United States, where he underwent extensive brain scans and physical exams. And this is what is most peculiar. The brain scans revealed that Auto had suffered an extensive loss of brain tissue, the kind that is consistent with a cardiopulmonary event, basically meaning the brain was deprived of oxygen for a length of time. There was no evidence backing up the North Korean's claim of botulism, but remember it had been over a year that Auto had spent in captivity, and this meant that the doctors had a difficult time figuring out exactly what had happened to Auto.

22:38 But what is perhaps more peculiar than anything they did find is what they didn't find. Auto's doctors claimed to have found no evidence of physical abuse or torture. There was no healing fractures, there were no bruises on his body, his teeth seemed completely normal, in direct opposition to his father Fred's claim that they looked like they had been rearranged by pair of pliers. We're learning more about the condition of Otto Wombia, the American who returned to the US Tuesday night after being imprisoned in North Korea for the last fifteen months. His family says he returned in a coma. Wombia suffered what hospital officials described as a severe neurological injury during his captivity. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome.

23:27 We are here at the request of the Warmbier family to provide an update on Otto's medical condition and the care he is currently receiving at uc Health University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Today you will hear from the following physicians, doctor Daniel Cantor, director of the Neurocritical Care Program, Doctor Jordan Bonamo, and doctor Brandon Foreman. Before we begin, we want to make clear that our physicians comments will focus on what we know today regarding Auto's medical condition. We will begin with doctor Cantor, who will provide a summary. We will then accept questions and will conclude this gathering and approximately twenty minutes Doctor Canther, Good afternoon. Mister Warmbier arrived in Cincinnati at approximately ten pm on June thirteenth.

24:33 Doctor Jordan Bonamo and the transport team met the aircraft and assumed care of the patient. At the airport. He was transported to the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where doctor Brandon Foreman and his team were waiting. An extensive series of imaging and diagnostic tests began immediately upon his arrival at our hospital. Throughout this process, the warm Beer family has been at their son's bedside and information has been continuously shared with them. His vital signs were stable upon arrival and have remained so He requires no supplemental oxygen or respiratory assistance. He has no signs of infection or dysfunction of the major non neurological organs. His neurological condition can be best described as a state of unresponsive wakefulness. He has spontaneous eye opening and blinking. However, he shows no signs of understanding language, responding to verbal commands, or awareness of his surroundings.

25:53 He has not spoken. He has not engaged in any purposeful movements or behaviors. His exam shows a spastic quadruparesis, which means he has profound weakness and contraction of the muscles of his arms and legs. The most important diagnostic test thus far was a magnetic resonance imaging scan of the brain. This study showed extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of the brain. We have no certain or verifiable knowledge of the cause or circumstances of his neurological injury.

26:40 This pattern of brain injury, however, is usually seen as a result of cardiopulmonary arrest, where the blood supply to the brain is inadequate for a period of time, resulting in the death of brain tissue. We received copy of brain MRI images from the medical personnel in North Korea. The earliest images are dated April two, sixteen. Based upon our analysis of those images, the brain injury likely occurred in the preceding weeks. At the request of the family, information regarding his prognosis, prospects for improvement, and future care and treatment will remain confidential throughout this ordeal. The warm Beer family has shown remarkable courage, strength and compassion on behalf of the medical staff, nurses and associates of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. I can say that it is our privilege to care for their son and brother. Thank you. At this time, we will accept questions coming up on the season finale of the Otto Warm Beer series. On Tapes from the Dark Side, you spoke about cardio pulmonary arrest.

28:12 What kind of things might cause cardio pulmonary arrest? I mean because it sounds to me like, you know, physical abuse might be something that could bring that on. Could you said a little more about that. I'm your host, tz Borden. Thank you for listening to Tapes from the Dark Side. We'll read all the credits in the final episode of this series, which is available one week early to our members on Patreon, and it's also add free just like all of our episodes on Patreon. It only takes about one minute to join patreon dot com. Slash Tapes from the dark Side sent of our earnings for September. We'll go directly to the Group of Liberty in North Korea, helping refugees escape Kim's brutal regime. They are a trusted in transparent organization rated four stars by Charity Navigator. Thank you to everyone who supports Tips from the Dark Side. And until next time, try to enjoy the daylight.