Otto Warmbier, American student released from North Korea, was active in Hillel

Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student imprisoned by North Korea who remains in a coma since his release this week, was active at the campus Hillel and cared deeply about the Jewish community, its rabbi recalls.

Warmbier, 22, a Cincinnati native, was traveling on a student tour of North Korea last year when he was arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for stealing a propaganda poster.

After international outrage and over a year of imprisonment, North Korea released him this week, saying his health had deteriorated severely. Warmbier’s doctors say he is unresponsive and has suffered extensive brain damage.

Rabbi Jake Rubin, the University of Virginia’s Hillel director, told JTA in an email that it was another overseas trip that sealed Warmbier’s connection to the Jewish community.

A 2014 Birthright mission to Israel, where Warmbier received a Hebrew name during a hike to Masada, left a strong impression on the young man. Following the trip, he became involved with the Jewish community on campus.

http://www.jta.org/2017/06/16/news-opinion/united-states/otto-warmbier-american-student-released-from-north-korea-was-active-in-hillel