The father of an American college student detained in North Korea is speaking out about his son's harrowing experience.
"I'm so proud of Otto, my son, who has been in a pariah regime for the last 18 months, brutalized and terrorized," Fred Warmbier said.
Wearing the same jacket his son wore in prison, Fred Warmbier told reporters Thursday the North Korean regime treated his son Otto "brutally."
Last year, North Korea's highest court sentenced the 22-year-old University of Virginia student to 15 years in prison with hard labor.
Otto Warmbier tearfully confessed to trying to steal a propaganda banner at his hotel in Pyongyang, but it's unclear if his confession was coerced.
"I understand the severity of my crime," he said during a press conference in February 2016.
He was released Tuesday and brought to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in a coma.
North Korea later said it released Otto Warmbier on "humanitarian grounds" but wouldn't give any information about his medical condition or the terms of his release.
As of Thursday morning, a hospital spokesperson said he had suffered a neurological injury but was in stable condition.
