Otto Warmbier's Parents: 'North Korea Is Not a Victim. They're Terrorists.'

The parents of a University of Virginia student detained in North Korea are going public about the details of their son's harsh treatment and subsequent death.

North Korea sentenced Otto Warmbier to 15 years of hard labor in March 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster as a tourist. The regime released Warmbier in June, but he arrived home in a comatose state and barely survived a week.

His parents went on the "Fox and Friends" morning TV show to tell the world what they discovered about their 22-year-old son's condition.

"We see North Korea claiming to be a victim and the world is picking on them and we're here to tell you--North Korea is not a victim. They're terrorists," said Otto's father Fred Warmbier.

He and his wife Cindy described their ordeal when they went aboard an air ambulance that arrived in Cincinnati from North Korea on June 13th with their son. As they walked up the steps of the plane, Warmbier said "we heard this howling, involuntary, inhuman sound."

They described seeing their son on a stretcher with a feeding tube coming out of his nose. "He was staring blankly into space jerking violently," said his dad. "He was blind. He was deaf."

Warmbier also said his son's mouth "looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth." He described a large scar on his right foot.

The North Korean government said that botulism caused Warmbier's injuries but on his return home, American doctors quickly refuted that and determined that he suffered severe brain damage while in detainment.

Otto Warmbier died just a few days after his homecoming.

His parents said they've taken time in the last three months to mourn and grieve his death but wanted to go public now with more of their son's story in an effort to counter North Korean attempts to play the victim role as tensions escalate with the U.S.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Young Ho told reporters in New York as he left a U.N. meeting that President Trump had "declared war" on his country with a tweet saying that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "won't be around much longer."

The minister said that his country has "every right" to respond with counter measures, including shooting down U.S. strategic bombers that are not in North Korean air space. The U.S. regularly sends advanced war planes to the Korean Peninsula for patrols or drills during periods of animosity.

President Trump tweeted about the appearance this morning calling it a "great interview" and saying "Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea."