Warmbier father ‘disbelieves’ North Korea’s claim

Otto Frederick Warmbier, flanked by two North Korean guards

The father of a US student freed by North Korea this week says he does not believe the regime’s explanation for his son’s coma.

The regime said Otto Warmbier, 22, went into a coma last year because of botulism and a sleeping pill he was given after his trial.

His father, Fred, said there was no excuse “to deny him top notch medical care for so long”.

Otto landed in Ohio on Tuesday and is being treated in hospital.

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The medical centre where he is being treated said on Thursday he suffered a “severe neurological injury” and is in a stable condition.

“They lure Americans and then they take them hostage and then they do things to them and that’s what happened to my son,” Mr Warmbier said at a news conference.

Otto Warmbier, an economics student from the University of Virginia, was arrested in January 2016 while visiting North Korea as a tourist.

He was given a 15-year prison sentence for attempting to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel.