It is certainly possible that, rather than hanging or strangling himself, he was strangled by someone in the DPRK. The DPRK hasn't done that to any other US prisoner, but it's the DPRK, so who knows?
The problem is that the narrative in the media doesn't have that uncertainty. Rather, it's reported (somewhat widely, though less so after the coroner's report) that there was evidence of physical abuse: scars on his legs, "rearranged" lower teeth, etc.
It is worth adding that the article doesn't say Warmbier tried to kill himself; it just adds that to the stack of plausible causes. It is indeed a very plausible cause.
My point is, as it was downthread, that there's a special recent history to reports of abuses by enemies of the US. If the prevailing narrative about Warmbier's treatment by the DPRK is false, and is exploited by the administration as casus belli, that's not hairsplitting.
Like I said earlier: whatever the US accused the Iraqi Baathist regime of doing, their actual abuses were similarly awful. But in the question of how the US relates to other countries, the distinction matters.
Candidly, I think the debate about US/DPRK relations is (on HN) less important than the debate about what it means to report on these stories and to challenge a popular narrative. If I've been triggered to respond by anything in this thread, it's the subtext (in many comments here) that the reporting in this GQ piece is slapdash or done in bad faith.
I didn't say that, if it sounded like I did, sorry!
is exploited by the administration as casus belli
That's a different argument with a higher bar - you can't meet it debating the state of Otto Warmbier's teeth.
it's the subtext (in many comments here) that the reporting in this GQ piece is slapdash or done in bad faith.
For what little it's worth, that gets my goat every single time as well.
Is he some kind of ninja?
The doctors would only miss the injuries if they were being told to miss the injuries.
The full year of time to heal only helps the North Koreans cover up injuries they want concealed.
How does one go braindead in a suicide attempt while locked up, without leaving physical evidence of other injuries?
Certainly, none of the other suicide attempts the author listed would qualify.
Later in the article: "Upon learning that this article did not support claims that Otto was beaten, and included the theory that he may have attempted suicide—a possibility that the family, through their lawyer, dismissed categorically—the Warmbiers withdrew a statement that they had previously provided."
The "theory" that he attempted suicide is definitely on shakier ground than the "theories" his injuries were intentionally inflicted on him by the North Koreans.