Otto Warmbier’s tour group: No more Americans to N. Korea

The tour group Otto Warmbier used to travel to North Korea will no longer allow Americans to participate in tours to the country, a decision the group said it came to after Warmbier’s death on Monday.

In an emailed statement to USA Today, Young Pioneer Tours said the risk assessment “for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high” in light of Warmbier’s death.

“The devastating loss of Otto Warmbier’s life has led us to reconsider our position on accepting American tourists,” the group told the newspaper. “There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result.” 

{mosads}Warmbier died Monday after being released from North Korea last week. He had been detained for 17 months for allegedly attempting to steal a political poster. Prior to his death, Warmbier’s parents said their son had been in a coma for more than a year.

The tour group, which is based in China, called Warmbier’s detention “appalling” and said it was not permitted to speak with Warmbier for the duration of his detention. 

“Despite constant requests, we were denied any opportunity to meet him or anyone in contact with him in Pyongyang, only receiving assurances that he was fine,” Young Pioneer Tours told USA Today. “There has still been almost no information disclosed about his period in detention. Considering these facts and this tragic outcome we will no longer be organizing tours for U.S. citizens to North Korea.”

The group told the newspaper it “held onto hope” that Warmbier would recover and sent the “deepest sympathies” to his loved ones.

“We had held onto hope that he might recover, and have the life that he should have had, but now those hopes are gone, and we too are reeling with the shock of a young man’s life taken well before his time,” Young Pioneer Tours said.