@alexpeltier3330

2 weeks ago

Bit of an NK savant, here. Read literally every published English source about the country (thanks libraries!), including at least two books by people who were held in NK but were released. And based on what happened to them vs. Otto and their accounts of treatment there, I really believe he attempted suicide. One was a reporter, and the other was a missionary. Both spoke some Korean and had experience with how North Korea often does things. And they were OK, even though they had allegedly committed worse crimes (preaching, and being in the restricted border area with China). Scared and worried, but they had faith and knowledge. NK tries really, really hard not to seriously harm or kill their foreign detainees, because they’re actually more valuable alive and as bargaining chips. But, this doesn’t mean they don’t completely mess you up psychologically. The reporter, Laura Ling, nearly had a breakdown, herself, even though she was never hurt and kept in okay condition in the capital, because she was constantly interrogated, lied to, gaslit, and denied sleep. This was a woman used to travel in all areas who had at least 10 years on Otto. If this happened to her, I think the manipulations of the regime probably work more effectively on a younger man without special knowledge. Looking at the bilateral brain oxygen deprivation and the coma, what seems most likely is that he either hung himself (bilateral deprivation can come about by suffocating on a noose, if it doesn’t break the hyoid bone) and was cut down too late, or that he took an overdose. Laura Ling was given tranquilizers during her detention there, so if Otto was desperate, he might have gotten hold of the entire bottle. Oxygen deprivation can also happen if one overdoses and stops breathing during sleep.

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