Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I didn't read all the posts, but I have to say I've never seen a person walking ''in a coma''. It seems more like brain damage of some sort.
Anyway, young people make poor decisions and this one cost him dearly. My heart goes out to his family and I hope he can fully recover.
Please share where you read that he was walking while in a coma.
What is shocking me the most is that he is in a coma for around 15 months already. When I first read the news I thought it was just kind of recent happening due to an incident or whatever. But 15 months coma in a North Korean hospital/jail, thats tough.
However, getting kind of propaganda poster cannot be that difficult, legally. We were even taken to shops where they were selling posters, paintings, books of the leaders, all kind of other "souvernirs". When asking the local guides, they will be more than happy to arrange a visit there, as they are happy for every $ or € in the country.
"We spent hours walking and crawling through tunnels under the city... skillfully avoiding pools of human waste."
Which tunnels? When we were there, we even walked to the Pyongyang station, when locals were watching a football match on big screens in the evening. We were taking the metro together with locals. There are not "tunnels under the city", just some road crossing subways for pedestrian and the metro.
I didn't read all the posts, but I have to say I've never seen a person walking ''in a coma''. It seems more like brain damage of some sort.
Anyway, young people make poor decisions and this one cost him dearly. My heart goes out to his family and I hope he can fully recover.
I saw that clip on TV as well and said what the hell? The news had his doctors on who said it is brain damage, not a coma. No signs of trauma to the skull or brain, so rules out he was brutally beaten. No signs of botulism poisoning either. Mentioned something about a lack of oxygen to the brain.
Something happened and I don't think we will ever know.
The video on then previous page - that could be anyone. It's not him. NK framed him.
Doctors today said they reviews CT or MRI scans from NK that are dated April 2016. They said he was in a coma a few weeks before that, so that means he's been like this since March 2016, over a year! That can't be a good prognosis. Very sad story.
From the doctor examining the young man:
"This pattern of brain injury is usually seen as result of cardiopulmonary arrest where blood supply to (the) brain is inadequate for a period of time, resulting in the death of brain tissue."
Wow! I previously posted some links about people who traveled to North Korea and their experiences. I bet most of you didn't even read them. Especially those of you who continue to criticize this young man and his parents.
I don't expect you to want to travel to North Korea, but one of the sites I linked tells about how Randy read everything he could before he decided to go. Thousands of people from all over the world have visited there with a tour group, the only way you are allowed to visit their country. And these people are alive and well. I'm saying this because of those who are righteous and keep blaming the young man and his parents for what happened. I'm am so glad that you are not my parent. Because if I had made this trip and something bad happened to me, you would feel just fine disowning me for the rest of my life.
It must be horrible (for those of us that have a conscience) for these parents and what they are going through.
"This pattern of brain injury is usually seen as result of cardiopulmonary arrest where blood supply to (the) brain is inadequate for a period of time, resulting in the death of brain tissue."
The diagnosis at this point is not very promising.
Very sad and we will never know what brought this on.
Hope it makes these kids and even adults travelling to hostile to the USA countries think twice.
There is nothing there to see worth the risk imo
Young Pioneer Tours reviewed on Trip Advisor with 490 Excellent reviews and 14 very good reviews.
My god! This young man is 21 years old. He made a mistake. Some of you who can do nothing but criticize should be ashamed of yourselves. Feeling righteous is so disgusting. I'm fed up with people being so critical of others and showing no compassion.
Try to have a good day.
Did you take the time to read Trip Advisor? If you would've you would seen there were only two Americans in the first five pages. Nearly every one of them stated to follow the laws of this country to the letter. Every one of them who commented on Otto said Otto (before his release) did something stupid. This young man is now 22 years old and made a choice.
Maybe you don't know that most young travelers to gray area countries are not Americans. I've worked in numerous Muslim countries across N Africa and the Middle East for decades and the most common people that I've seen do stupid things have been Americans (easy to tell by the language they are speaking) who did little preparation for their trips.
Wow! I previously posted some links about people who traveled to North Korea and their experiences. I bet most of you didn't even read them. Especially those of you who continue to criticize this young man and his parents.
I don't expect you to want to travel to North Korea, but one of the sites I linked tells about how Randy read everything he could before he decided to go. Thousands of people from all over the world have visited there with a tour group, the only way you are allowed to visit their country. And these people are alive and well. I'm saying this because of those who are righteous and keep blaming the young man and his parents for what happened. I'm am so glad that you are not my parent. Because if I had made this trip and something bad happened to me, you would feel just fine disowning me for the rest of my life.
It must be horrible (for those of us that have a conscience) for these parents and what they are going through.
IMO you're passing misinformation to make yourself feel better. You left out that Randy has been globe trotting for over 20 years (started at 26) thus making him not naive to how the world actually is. You also left out that Randy spent ten months thinking about traveling to NK before making the decision to do so. Randy was prepared, Otto was not.
Notice (hasn't been updated since mid 2016) that Africa and the Middle East have not been traveled to and his single trip to anywhere in Asia was within the past few months. So 99% of his trips have been to safe countries. Not even close to a valid comparison.
Wow! I previously posted some links about people who traveled to North Korea and their experiences. I bet most of you didn't even read them. Especially those of you who continue to criticize this young man and his parents.
I don't expect you to want to travel to North Korea, but one of the sites I linked tells about how Randy read everything he could before he decided to go. Thousands of people from all over the world have visited there with a tour group, the only way you are allowed to visit their country. And these people are alive and well. I'm saying this because of those who are righteous and keep blaming the young man and his parents for what happened. I'm am so glad that you are not my parent. Because if I had made this trip and something bad happened to me, you would feel just fine disowning me for the rest of my life.
It must be horrible (for those of us that have a conscience) for these parents and what they are going through.
Very sad and regrettable what happened to him, but he is in this situation because he CHOSE to travel to North Korea and pulled a stupid stunt, he was in no way prepared for this trip or what could happen there.
Ignorance is not bliss in a place like North Korea
I've ignored State Department travel warnings in the past, such as the year I went to Thailand almost immediately after a coup, but those warnings were nothing like this:
To me, if you ignore this kind of travel warning from our State Department, you're a fool.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
