Otto Warmbier: Comatosed US student freed by North Korea arrives in Ohio

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A US student whose parents say has been in a coma for over a year has been freed from prison in North Korea.

Otto Warmbier had been sentenced to a 15-year prison term with hard labour after he was found guilty of stealing a propaganda banner in the country’s capital Pyongyang while visiting with a tour group.

But after authorities in the secretive communist state decided to release him, the 22-year-old was flown back to Ohio, where he was immediately transferred to University of Cincinnati Medical Center by ambulance.

His parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier said they had been told a week ago that their son had been in a coma since his trial in March 2016.

It is thought he developed botulism at some point after his trial and fell into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had made Mr Warmbier’s release “a big priority”.

She added that the US President had worked “very hard and very closely” on the issue with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to secure his release, which coincided with a visit to North Korea by former basketball star Dennis Rodman.

He denied the purpose of the visit had any link to Mr Warmbier.

Three Americans remain in custody in North Korea. These include Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim, who both worked at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.

They were detained in early May for unspecified hostile acts.

South Korean-born US citizen Kim Dong Chul was also sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour after being convicted of espionage in April 2016.

Associated Press contributed to this report.