Originally posted by sh76
No sympathy.
I do have sympathy for people born there. They have no choice.
This idiot knew exactly what he was getting himself into. He broke the laws of the country he intentionally entered and now he's stuck with the consequences. Are the consequences insane? Sure. But he made his own bed.
I'm a little surprised at the hostility towards Warmbier; after all, he was a tourist on a 5 day trip not a defector. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-student-arrest-idUSKCN0V1063
He also seems to have been singled out for particularly harsh punishment because he was a US citizen and was allegedly forced to confess to US government involvement in his rather sophomoric crime (which would almost certainly not gotten him any jail time in the US, never mind 15 years at hard labor):
"I never, never should have allowed myself to be lured by the United States administration to commit a crime in this country," he said tearfully as he begged for forgiveness.
"I wish that the United States administration never manipulate people like myself in the future to commit crimes against foreign countries.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/16/asia/north-korea-warmbier-sentenced/index.html