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I'm a bit confused as to why you need a theory. He took down photos / pictures at the hotel - and for that they effectively ended his life. Or do you mean you

I'm a bit confused as to why you need a theory. He took down photos / pictures at the hotel - and for that they effectively ended his life. Or do you mean you have a theory as to how he ended up in a vegetative state under their care?

pizza234 6y ago
Given the authoritian regime, nobody outside of the involved authorities will ever know what exactly happened and why. Therefore, we can only speculate (that is, produce theories). It's not clear if the person depicted in the video is him. I personally think it's not. Some think that they killed him purely to spite the USA government, which implies that they decided to kill an american and fabricate evidence. So, that's another theory, with different premises. I don't agree with it. I think that: - he did something stupid (e.g. got drunk and yelled something against the leader); - they decided to punish him, but didn't have evidence; - they fabricated evidence; - they punished him.
- hakfoo 6y ago
  I always figured it was more along the lines of 1. He committed a legitimate (by their laws) offense and was punished. The claimed offense (I think it was stealing a regime poster) was the sort of thing where it should be obvious that they have (by our standards) disproportionate enforcement on. He knew he was teasing the bull by trying it. 2. At some point in captivity, he had an actual health emergency. This could have been inadvertently triggered by abuse or the conditions, or it could have legitimately been something like an infection or food poisoning. As I recall, the autopsy didn't show obvious signs of abuse. 3. The health crisis may have been handled improperly, due to limited health care resources or just bad luck, and he ends up in a coma. 4. They toss him back in that state in a clunky attempt to both score political points and avoid the far greater blowback if he died in the DPRK. There's very little for them to gain by having him die in their custody, and they aren't stupid about that fact. That makes me expect incompetence and bad luck more than outright malice.
  - mikeyjk 6y ago
    I read an article that suggested he was tortured: https://www.voanews.com/usa/court-papers-hint-warmbiers-treatment-north-korea https://www.voanews.com/usa/court-papers-hint-warmbiers-trea...

pizza234 6y ago

Given the authoritian regime, nobody outside of the involved authorities will ever know what exactly happened and why. Therefore, we can only speculate (that is, produce theories). It's not clear if the person depicted in the video is him. I personally think it's not. Some think that they killed him purely to spite the USA government, which implies that they decided to kill an american and fabricate evidence. So, that's another theory, with different premises. I don't agree with it. I think that: - he did something stupid (e.g. got drunk and yelled something against the leader); - they decided to punish him, but didn't have evidence; - they fabricated evidence; - they punished him.

hakfoo 6y ago
I always figured it was more along the lines of 1. He committed a legitimate (by their laws) offense and was punished. The claimed offense (I think it was stealing a regime poster) was the sort of thing where it should be obvious that they have (by our standards) disproportionate enforcement on. He knew he was teasing the bull by trying it. 2. At some point in captivity, he had an actual health emergency. This could have been inadvertently triggered by abuse or the conditions, or it could have legitimately been something like an infection or food poisoning. As I recall, the autopsy didn't show obvious signs of abuse. 3. The health crisis may have been handled improperly, due to limited health care resources or just bad luck, and he ends up in a coma. 4. They toss him back in that state in a clunky attempt to both score political points and avoid the far greater blowback if he died in the DPRK. There's very little for them to gain by having him die in their custody, and they aren't stupid about that fact. That makes me expect incompetence and bad luck more than outright malice.
- mikeyjk 6y ago
  I read an article that suggested he was tortured: https://www.voanews.com/usa/court-papers-hint-warmbiers-treatment-north-korea https://www.voanews.com/usa/court-papers-hint-warmbiers-trea...