The parents of a journalist from New Hampshire executed in 2014 after being held hostage in Syria by the Islamic State group are offering their condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier, a student from Ohio who died after being detained in North Korea for nearly 18 months.
In a statement through the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, John and Diane Foley called Warmbier’s death senseless. They said it should be a “call to action to those in the position to protect our American citizens here at home and abroad.”
James Foley was a freelance war correspondent before he was captured and held for nearly two years. His parents created the foundation in his name to advocate for the release of American hostages and to help keep journalists reporting in conflict zones safe.
Warmbier died in Cincinnati on Monday, not long after his return to Ohio after more than a year in North Korean captivity. He was released from the communist country in a coma. Doctors had described Warmbier’s condition as a state of “unresponsive wakefulness” and said he suffered a “severe neurological injury” of unknown cause.
The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group and was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor.
The Hamilton County coroner is trying to determine the cause of Warmbier’s death, but his family objected to an autopsy. As a result, doctors only performed an external examination of his body. Medical records have been reviewed, and his condition was discussed extensively by treating physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was hospitalized after his June 13 return.
A public funeral service is scheduled for Thursday at his hometown high school in Ohio. He was salutatorian of his 2013 Wyoming High School class before attending the University of Virginia.
Ohio’s Republican U.S. senator said Wednesday he had a secret meeting with North Korean officials in New York last December to press for Warmbier’s release. Sen. Rob Portman wouldn’t provide many details but said the diplomats indicated they would relay his request.
Portman, from the Cincinnati area, said he planned to attend Warmbier’s funeral. Also attending will be Ambassador Joseph Yun, the U.S. special envoy who traveled to Pyongyang to bring Warmbier back, and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, the Department of State said.
Earlier this week, Jay Klein, a rising sophomore at DePauw University, recalled joining the Wyoming High soccer team as a freshman and getting to know Warmbier as one of the friendliest, most spirited seniors playing.
“Walking around the hallways at school, you don’t really expect seniors to come up to you as a freshman,” Klein said. “He was one of the only guys who would come up to me and ask me how my day was doing and that kind of thing.”
Klein said fellow players looked up to Warmbier on and off the field, admiring his light-hearted spirit, his passion for the game and his love for travel.
Molly Cain met Warmbier when he coached her 12-year-old son, Robby, at the Wyoming swim club. At the time, Robby was shy, Cain said, and Warmbier helped him come out of his shell.
“Once he started working with Otto, he couldn’t wait to go,” Cain said. “It was like, ‘Not only do I get to swim, I get to swim with someone I totally look up to who’s older than me, and he’s cool, and he’s fun, and he thinks I’m great!’”
She said he was in tears after Warmbier died.