An American college student whose parents say he has been in a coma while serving a 15-year prison term in North Korea has returned to the US as the Trump administration revealed a rare exchange with the reclusive country.
A plane carrying Otto Warmbier, who's from Ohio, arrived in Cincinnati shortly before 10:20pm on Tuesday. Two ambulances were parked near an airport hangar.
Warmbier, 22, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial in North Korea's Supreme Court in March 2016. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour for subversion after he tearfully confessed that he had tried to steal a propaganda banner.
Warmbier's parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, said they were told he has been in a coma since his trial, when he was last seen in public, and they had learned of this only one week ago.
"We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalised and terrorised by the pariah regime" in North Korea, Warmbier's parents said.
"We are so grateful that he will finally be with people who love him."
Warmbier's release came during a visit to North Korea by former NBA star Dennis Rodman, one of few people to have met both North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump.
Department of State spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Rodman had nothing to do with Warmbier's release. Rodman had told reporters before arriving in Pyongyang that the issue of Americans detained by North Korea is "not my purpose right now".
Securing Warmbier's release "was a big priority" for President Donald Trump, who worked "very hard and very closely" with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
