The director of the Pyongyang Friendship Hospital gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA on October 27 as regards allegations coming out recently within the US, which distort the truth about the cause of death of an American student Warmbier.
American student Warmbier died after his return to the US following the release on sick bail in June 2017. He was undergoing the reform through labour which he had been sentenced to on a charge of anti-DPRK hostile act committed in January 2016.
However, several American doctors, who had reportedly involved in the health check-up and treatment of Warmbier, submitted “medical observation” to a federal district court in Washington DC on October 10 to the effect that “he had died of torture”, alleging that “they had concluded his teeth were dislocated and his gum bone damaged by physical force from outside”.
Worse still, Haley, US permanent representative to the UN, reportedly made such reckless remarks as “in north Korea, where Warmbier was tortured to death, and that was evil”.
As the director of the hospital that directly involved in the medical treatment of Warmbier, I cannot repress my indignation at the total distortion of the truth about his death in the US.
As Warmbier had admitted by himself at a press conference, we provided him with medical care with sincerity from humanitarian viewpoint until his return to the US, though he was a criminal who had committed a hostile act against the DPRK.
The American doctors who came to the DPRK to help Warmbier’s repatriation acknowledged that his health indicators were all normal and submitted a letter of assurance to our hospital that they shared the diagnostic result of the doctors of our hospital. That document is still in our hands.
According to an article carried in the American newspaper USA Today on June 21, 2017, a neurosurgeon in the University of Cincinnati admitted that medical examination of Warmbier had not found any trace of physical abuse like bone fracture or internal injury and he came home in a well-nourished condition.
And according to the American NBC news on September 27, 2017, a medical examiner from Ohio of the US testified in his report that they combed Warmbier’s body to find any trace of torture but failed to do so, and forensic dentists could not find any evidence of trauma to Warmbier’s teeth.
Now the question is: What is the ulterior motive of those American doctors trying to make a different story at this point in time with regard to the cause of Warmbier’s death?
Medical assessment of doctors should be objective and accurate, and it should not be influenced by any selfish purpose or political interest.
Anyone, who values truth in sincerity, should instead ask for an investigation into the cause of Warmbier’s sudden death right after his arrival in the US, whose health indicators were all normal at the time of his release.
The DPRK treats as ever those who are undergoing reform in conformity with the relevant international laws and international standard.
