在昏迷状态下被朝鲜释放的美国学生奥托·瓦姆比尔星期一不幸去世。他的死讯再次使金正恩政府下据信普遍存在的侵犯人权的现象引起了国际社会的关注。
人权观察亚洲副主任菲尔·罗伯逊说：“坦率地说，这个政府就是一个人权梦魇，一个人权黑洞。”
2016年1月，瓦姆比尔被平壤当局逮捕，罪名是企图从朝鲜一家旅馆偷取一张政治宣传画，他后来被判15年劳教。瓦姆比尔15个月前陷入昏迷，再也没有醒来。
朝鲜当局声称，瓦姆比尔被押期间肉毒桿菌中毒并服用安眠药之后陷入昏迷。他的家乡俄亥俄州辛辛纳提市负责瓦姆比尔治疗的医生否定了朝鲜的说法，但是无法确定他遭受的严重神经伤害是什么原因造成的。
瓦姆比尔的家人在一份声明中说，“我们儿子在朝鲜人手里受到的严酷的折磨，确定了最后不会有其它的结果。”
美国总统川普星期一向瓦姆比尔的家人表示哀悼。他在书面声明中说：“对于父母来说，最大的悲哀莫过于孩子英年早逝。”
川普还说，瓦姆比尔的死亡更加坚定了他的信念，要防止“不尊重法治或人类基本尊严的政权”制造更多的悲剧。
美国其他官员也发表了类似声明，对瓦姆比尔的家人表达慰问，并对瓦姆比尔受到朝鲜政府残酷和非人的对待表示愤慨。
韩国总统文在寅发表声明，对瓦姆比尔的家人表示“哀悼和慰问”，同时谴责朝鲜无视国际法保障的人权，拘留外国公民。
韩国总统府发言人说：“朝鲜还在关押着韩国和美国公民，朝鲜需要立即让他们回来跟家人团聚，我们政府为此将竭尽全力。”
目前还有六名韩国人被朝鲜关押，有些人是传教士，被控从事间谍行为，其他人据报道是在边界中国一侧帮助脱北者时被朝鲜特工绑架的。
美国官员说，朝鲜继续关押的三名朝鲜裔美国人的处境令他们担忧。
美国指责朝鲜把这几个人当作政治筹码。朝鲜则指责美国和韩国派出间谍试图推翻朝鲜政府。
U.S. student Otto Warmbier’s tragic death Monday, after being released from a North Korean prison in a coma, has again put an international focus on the widespread human rights violations allegedly being committed by the Kim Jong Un government.
“This is a government that frankly is a human rights abomination. It is a human rights black hole,” said Phil Robertson, the Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.
In January of 2016, Warmbier was arrested in Pyongyang for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster at a hotel. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor, then fell into a coma 15 months ago from which he never awoke.
North Korean officials said the 22-year-old American university student contracted botulism while in custody and was given a sleeping pill that put him into a comatose state. Doctors at the hospital in Cincinnati, where he was being treated after being released, discounted the North Korean account but could not say what caused the severe neurological injury.
“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,” the family said in a statement following his death.
U.S. President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the family in a statement Monday saying, “There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life.”
The president also said the death deepens his determination to prevent future tragedies “at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.”
Other U.S. officials issued similar statements of sympathy for the family and outrage at what they described as Warmbier’s brutal, inhumane treatment by the North Korean government.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in issued a statement offering “condolence and consolation” to Warmbier’s family, and also condemned North Korea for detaining foreign nationals without regard for human rights guaranteed under international law.
“North Korea is still detaining our citizens and American citizens, and it needs to return them to their families immediately, and our government will put utmost effort for this,” said South Korean Presidential Office spokesman Park Soo-hyun.
There are six South Koreans currently imprisoned in North Korea. Some were missionaries who were charged with spying and others were reportedly kidnapped by North Korean agents while helping defectors on the Chinese side of the border.
U.S. officials have said they are concerned about three Korean-Americans who remain held in North Korea.
The U.S. government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.