I think being told to keep quiet has been a policy in many cases. If the Warmbiers didn’t want to keep quiet, that was their choice but they had only the US government to turn to (and Dennis Rodman). They were informed last spring that their son was in a coma, so they knew he had medical needs. The US only has so much political capital to use and they have to decide how to use it. Are they going to fight for a release of a military prisoner, a journalist, a missionary, a tourist?
We can try to think it through rationally, but I don’t think there is anything rational about it.
I don’t think the son is near death or was about to die in N Korean custody. The doctors here said he is physically in pretty good condition, with good nutrition and no skin sores. Why they kept him until now is a mystery.
The Iranian hostages were released just as Reagan took office. Was it his administration that effected the release? Of course not. It was just timing. Maybe N Korea wants it to look like there is a change in the dealings with the new administration, but I don’t think there really is.
Again, if the Warmbeirs are giving the Trump administration credit, than who are we to doubt it. I believe they are the poeple closest to the situation at hand; they are the ones most likely to understand who deserves the credit. No one else. So if they deem Trump worthy of the praise, then so be it.
And I believe they gave most of the credit to Yun, who was actively working it, with permission of Tillerson. He was appointed last October, by the last administration. Perhaps Mr. Yun worked his butt off for the release. I wonder what the last person in his position did, besides telling the family to keep quiet. I hope they speak up and inform us.
@SouthFloridaMom9 Fred Warmbier said during his press conference in response to a reporters question that Otto had called him and indicated he wanted to go on this trip to North Korea, and that as parents they were fine with it. I don’t have a link, but you can google “Fred Warmbier press conference” and it should come up.
I don’t know why this situation caught my attention when it first came to light (i.e., when he first got in trouble). Maybe it’s because he is close to the age of my own sons. I have read quite a few articles about it, but I didn’t see a transcript of his dad’s press conference. I did watch some of it. I was thrilled when they said he was coming home (before the press conference and before it was known how bad off he is).
As a parent I, myself, would not have been ‘fine’ with it but I also don’t know the context in which he discussed it with his parents.
They probably second-guess themselves every day. How do you ever get over it?
Just think if he had showed up here on CC before he went to UVA. Most of us would have been impressed by his academic and personal success and drive.
Learning that Otto was not released during Obama’s term (and the parents were told to keep quite), but was released while Trump was in office, and concluding that Obama’s extensive efforts to release him were unsuccessful, while Trump’s administration was lucky without doing anything, is one of the finest examples of selective perception I have ever seen. It always disturbs me when any victims are blamed or exploited by anyone to score any political points - the only winners from this are the bad guys (in this case NK).
I couldn’t imagine the State Dept under Obama was doing nothing so am not surprised to see this new report from the Wall St. Journal that diplomats had been working intensively on getting the hostages out for over a year:
@janesmith You missed my point. I did not address at all whether or not anything was done by either administration. All I said was that any conclusion should be based on available facts (or at least should not contradict available facts). Truth - not truthiness! To address your post, I also find it hard to believe that nothing was done by diplomats, so the report does not surprise me at all.
I read that the parents were told last (2016) that the son had contracted botulism and was ill. Of course, it is just reporters and the details are not always correct.
The fact is that the Warmbiers could do little to help free their son. The tour company didn’t help. The state department may or may not have helped.
Sorghum- I guess it always puzzles me when people don’t believe what they hear. The warmbeirs clearly gave trumps admin credit for their sons release. So why is anyone doubting it. It’s as if u just can’t give this president any credit for anything he does regardless of the facts.
Unbelievable and to quote Hilary “deplorable”!
I don’t think their opinions should shut down any further debate on the issue. I just do not accept the Warmbiers as authorities on what really happened in the diplomatic process. And it is ‘deplorable’ to claim that I “can’t give this president credit for anything he does regardless of the facts” - when the facts are definitely still in dispute.
“What are you talking about? It is a fact that Yun, Tillerson, and Trump were the primary players involved in Otto’s release… this is not open to political interpretation. We must be able to give credit where credit is due here”
Both news articles in #138 and #146 stated diplomatic efforts for began in March 2106, immediately after Otto was sentenced, and approximately 10-11 months before the current administration took office. So credit should be given to both administrations: the previous for “consistently urging that North Korea allow Sweden consular access to Otto and three other American citizens, and pushing for their release” beginning in March 2016 and also for appointing Yun, and the present for continuing those efforts that led to the return of Warmbier to the U.S.
There are three other Americans still being held by the North Koreans who were not released (all of Korean descent). This is why I believe that the timing of Otto’s release was due to his medical condition - that and the fact that another news article stated that “the regime does not want a prisoner to die on its watch. It has gone to some lengths to care for sick detainees and released an 85-year-old man relatively quickly”.
If I was the parent of a child in this situation, I am positive that I would be also be most thankful to whoever was in office at the time of their release (regardless of my political affiliation) and angry that it didn’t happen sooner no matter how many people had been involved in the effort.
I am not giving credit to nor discounting either president’s role in this.
Kim Jong-un and his handlers aren’t stupid. They wouldn’t have released him if they didn’t think it was beneficial to them in some way.
He was released because Kim wanted him released. We will never know what went on in his head to come to that conclusion, but I’d bet a dollar it’s nothing that Trump, Obama, Tillerson, or any other US person said or did.
In this case, we paid back 400 million of ** Iran’s own money ** because it was ** ordered by the World Court ** and we ** delayed ** paying it back for several months ** until Iran released the 5 hostages **.