Family members return to their vehicles after Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate, who was detained and imprisoned in North Korea, is loaded into an ambulance at Lunken Airport... (Associated Press) 
 
 Family members return to their vehicles after Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate, who was detained and imprisoned in North Korea, is loaded into an ambulance at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Tuesday, June 13, 2017. Warmbier whose parents say he has been in a coma while... (Associated Press) 
 
 CINCINNATI (AP) — An American college student who was released from a North Korean prison is finally home but in a coma and undergoing treatment at an Ohio hospital where he was taken shortly after arriving on U.S. soil. 
 
 An airplane carrying Otto Warmbier, who is from Ohio, landed in Cincinnati late Tuesday night. The 22-year-old was then taken by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. 
 
 Warmbier was serving a 15-year prison term with hard labor in North Korea for alleged anti-state acts. 
 
 In Warmbier's hometown of Wyoming, just outside of Cincinnati, residents helped tie blue and white ribbons, Wyoming High School's colors, to trees and said news of his release had sent waves of shock and joy through the community. 
 
 "Everybody feels a sense of relief that he is coming back to the United States," resident Amy Mayer said before he arrived. "I think we're very excited yet very prayerful about what is happening because we've heard he is in a coma. So I think that people are trying to be supportive of the family and let the community-family know that we are very with them." 
 
 A hospital spokeswoman said Warmbier's family was expected to hold a news conference Thursday morning at Wyoming High School. 
 
 Securing Warmbier's release "was a big priority" for President Donald Trump, who worked "very hard and very closely" with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. 
 
 While North Korea's move to free Warmbier could potentially provide an opening for talks on security issues, the prospects still appear bleak. International negotiations on the dispute over North Korea's nuclear program have been in limbo for years, as the U.S. cranks up economic sanctions and North Korea won't give up weapons it considers a guarantee against invasion. 
 
 The detention of Americans, often sentenced to draconian prison sentences for seemingly small offenses in the totalitarian nation, has compounded tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. Three Americans remain in custody. 
 
 Warmbier, a University of Virginia undergraduate, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial in North Korea's Supreme Court in March 2016. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor for subversion after he tearfully confessed that he had tried to steal a propaganda banner. 
 
 Warmbier's parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, said they were told he has been in a coma since his trial, when he was last seen in public, and they had learned of this only one week ago. 
 
 "We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime" in North Korea, Warmbier's parents said. "We are so grateful that he will finally be with people who love him." 
 
 A White House official said Trump had instructed Tillerson to take all appropriate measures to secure the release of Americans held in North Korea. The official referred to them as "hostages." 
 
 The U.S. government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government. 
 
 Warmbier's release came during a visit to North Korea by former NBA star Dennis Rodman, one of few people to have met both North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, who was Rodman's boss on "Celebrity Apprentice." 
 
 Department of State spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Rodman had nothing to do with Warmbier's release. Rodman, who has traveled to the isolated nation four times since 2013, had told reporters before arriving in Pyongyang that he hopes his trip will "open a door" for Trump. 
 
 North Korea poses one of the greatest national security challenges for Trump as it tries to develop a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike America. He is looking to increase economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea, with help from China but has said he's open to meeting Kim. 
 
 In the past, North Korea has held out until senior U.S. officials or statesmen came to personally bail out detainees. A 2009 visit by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, secured the freedom of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling. 
 
 Tillerson said the Department of State was continuing "to have discussions" with North Korea about the release of other three American citizens imprisoned there. 
 
 ___ 
 
 AP reporters Josh Lederman and Ken Thomas in Washington, Eric Talmadge in Pyongyang, North Korea, Daniel Sewell in Cincinnati and video journalist Sara Gillesby in New York contributed to this report. ||||| AFP/File / Handout US student Otto Warmbier, seen here in February 2016, was arrested for committing hostile acts against North Korea An American student who fell into a coma while imprisoned in a North Korean labor camp returned to the United States late Tuesday after Pyongyang allowed him to be flown home, US media reported. A military airplane carrying Otto Warmbier landed in his hometown of Cincinnati shortly before 10:20 pm (0220 GMT Wednesday), CBS News reported. The release of Warmbier, 18 months into a 15-year sentence, came as US President Donald Trump invited South Korea's new leader Moon Jae-In to Washington for talks on the escalating standoff over the North's nuclear program. 
 
 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said earlier in the day that his agency had "secured" the 22-year-old's release in talks with North Korea and is pushing for three more Americans to be freed. It was not immediately clear if he had made any concessions. 
 
 The news surfaced after the flamboyant retired NBA basketball star Dennis Rodman -- a former contestant on Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" reality show -- flew to Pyongyang to resume his quixotic quest to broker detente between his US homeland and Kim Jong-Un's authoritarian regime. 
 
 But State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the visit "had nothing to do with the release". 
 
 Warmbier's parents Fred and Cindy announced his release in a statement to CNN on Tuesday. 
 
 "Sadly, he is in a coma and we have been told he has been in that condition since March of 2016," they said. "We learned of this only one week ago." 
 
 "We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime" in North Korea, they added. 
 
 On arriving in Cincinnati's Lunken Airport, Warmbier was transferred to a waiting ambulance that rushed him to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for urgent treatment, Fox News reported. 
 
 - Political pawn - 
 
 Warmbier's parents were told their son had contracted botulism and was given a sleeping pill soon after his trial in March last year and never woke. 
 
 The New York Times reported a senior US official as saying the authorities recently received intelligence indicating Warmbier was repeatedly beaten while in custody. 
 
 US officials refused to comment on his condition, but former ambassador and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson said he had spoken with the family. 
 
 "Otto has been in a coma for over a year now and urgently needs proper medical care in the United States," said Richardson, who has previously served as a special envoy to North Korea and still works on prisoner issues. 
 
 "We received a call from Cindy and Fred Warmbier early today to update us on Otto's condition. In no uncertain terms, North Korea must explain the causes of his coma." 
 
 Tillerson told US senators at the start of a budget hearing that the State Department had no comment on Warmbier's condition "out of respect for him and his family." 
 
 The United States had accused the North of using Warmbier as a political pawn, condemning the sentence as far out of proportion to his alleged crime. 
 
 The release came amid tension between Washington and Pyongyang following a series of missile tests by the North, focusing attention on an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis on Monday dubbed "a clear and present danger to all." 
 
 Almost immediately on taking office in January, Trump and his team -- having been briefed by the outgoing president Barack Obama -- declared the North's attempts to build, test and arm a nuclear-capable ballistic missile as Washington's biggest threat. 
 
 Washington has stepped up pressure on China and other foreign powers to enforce existing UN sanctions, and has deployed increased military assets of its own in the region. 
 
 Tillerson indicated on Tuesday that Washington is looking for new ways to increase pressure on Pyongyang, telling senators that the White House is considering whether to impose "secondary sanctions" on third countries that do business with North Korea. 
 
 Parallel to that track, basketball showman Rodman arrived Tuesday in Pyongyang wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the logo of a cryptocurrency set up for marijuana marketers. 
 
 The star has visited the North at least four times before, most recently in 2014 when he attracted a deluge of criticism after being filmed singing happy birthday to his "friend for life," leader Kim. 
 
 Before arriving this time, Rodman told reporters that Trump would be happy with the trip because he was "trying to accomplish something that we both need," prompting speculation that he may be operating as an unofficial envoy. 
 
 US officials dismissed the rumors, saying he was traveling as a private citizen. 
 
 - 'Worst mistake' - 
 
 Warmbier, a student at the University of Virginia, was arrested for removing a political banner from a wall at a North Korean hotel. 
 
 AFP / WANG ZHAO Flamboyant former basketball star Dennis Rodman arrives to check in for his flight to North Korea at Beijing's international airport He was detained at the airport as he was leaving the country with a tour group in January 2016. At a news conference before his trial, a sobbing Warmbier said he had made "the worst mistake of my life" and pleaded to be released. The North has occasionally jailed US citizens and released them only after visits by high-profile political figures, including former president Bill Clinton. 
 
 dc-burs/grf/ach ||||| CINCINNATI -- An American college student who was released from a North Korean prison is finally home but in a coma and undergoing treatment at an Ohio hospital where he was taken shortly after arriving on U.S. soil. 
 
 An airplane carrying Otto Warmbier, who is from Ohio, landed in Cincinnati late Tuesday night.The 22-year-old was then taken by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. 
 
 Warmbier was serving a 15-year prison term with hard labor in North Korea for alleged anti-state acts. 
 
 In Warmbier's hometown of Wyoming, just outside Cincinnati, residents helped tie blue and white ribbons, Wyoming High School's colors, to trees and said news of his release had sent waves of shock and joy through the community. 
 
 "Everybody feels a sense of relief that he is coming back to the United States," resident Amy Mayer said before he arrived. "I think we're very excited yet very prayerful about what is happening because we've heard he is in a coma. So I think that people are trying to be supportive of the family and let the community-family know that we are very with them." 
 
 A hospital spokeswoman said Warmbier's family was expected to hold a news conference Thursday morning at Wyoming High School. 
 
 
 
 Reuters / Bryan Woolston 
 
 Securing Warmbier's release "was a big priority" for President Trump, who worked "very hard and very closely" with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. 
 
 While North Korea's move to free Warmbier could potentially provide an opening for talks on security issues, the prospects still appear bleak. International negotiations on the dispute over North Korea's nuclear program have been in limbo for years, as the U.S. cranks up economic sanctions and North Korea won't give up weapons it considers a guarantee against invasion. 
 
 The detention of Americans, often sentenced to draconian prison sentences for seemingly small offenses in the totalitarian nation, has compounded tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. Three Americans remain in custody. 
 
 Warmbier, a University of Virginia undergraduate, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial in North Korea's Supreme Court in March 2016. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor for subversion after he tearfully confessed that he had tried to steal a propaganda banner. 
 
 Warmbier's parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, said they were told he has been in a coma since his trial, when he was last seen in public, and they had learned of this only one week ago. 
 
 "We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime" in North Korea, Warmbier's parents said. "We are so grateful that he will finally be with people who love him." 
 
 Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson, who has experience negotiating with North Korea, told CBS News Pyongyang hasn't been "candid or honest" about Warmbier's treatment while in prison. 
 
 A White House official said Mr. Trump had instructed Tillerson to take all appropriate measures to secure the release of Americans held in North Korea. The official referred to them as "hostages." 
 
 The U.S. government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government. 
 
 Warmbier's release came during a visit to North Korea by former NBA star Dennis Rodman, one of few people to have met both North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Mr. Trump, who was Rodman's boss on "Celebrity Apprentice." 
 
 State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Rodman had nothing to do with Warmbier's release. Rodman, who has traveled to the isolated nation four times since 2013, had told reporters before arriving in Pyongyang that he hopes his trip will "open a door" for Trump. 
 
 North Korea poses one of the greatest national security challenges for Mr. Trump as it tries to develop a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike America. He is looking to increase economic and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang, with help from China, but has said he's open to meeting Kim. 
 
 In the past, North Korea has held out until senior U.S. officials or statesmen came to personally bail out detainees. A 2009 visit by former President Clinton, a Democrat, secured the freedom of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling. 
 
 Reuters 
 
 Tillerson said the State Department was continuing "to have discussions" with North Korea about the release of the other three American citizens imprisoned there. They are: 
 
 - Kim Hak Song, who was detained in early May to be investigated for committing unspecified hostile acts, North Korea has said. He worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. 
 
 - Tony Kim, who also goes by his Korean name Kim Sang-duk, was detained April 22 at the Pyongyang airport. He had also taught at the university. He was accused of committing unspecified criminal acts intended to overthrow the government. 
 
 - South Korean-born U.S. citizen Kim Dong Chul, who was sentenced in April 2016 to 10 years in prison with hard labor after being convicted of espionage. ||||| A plane carrying Otto Warmbier, the U.S. college student arrested, tried and imprisoned in North Korea for more than a year, and who is now in a coma, landed in his hometown of Cincinnati Tuesday night and he was rushed to a hospital for urgent medical treatment. 
 
 The U.S. military flight landed at Lunken Airport at approximately 10:20pm ET and was met by an ambulance en route to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. 
 
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 A U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that Warmbier, 22, was in a coma and had been for "over a year." The official added that the North Koreans told the U.S. that Warmbier contracted botulism before slipping into a coma. However, the two U.S. doctors traveling with him have not been able to confirm that claim, the official said. 
 
 The New York Times, citing an unnamed senior American official, said the U.S. had received intelligence reports in recent weeks that Warmbier had been repeatedly beaten. 
 
 Warmbier has served just over a year of his 15-year sentence -- allegedly for taking down a sign of the late dictator Kim Jong Il while he was in the country with a tour group 
 
 Neighbor Tom Purdy described him to Fox News as "a great kid - truly outstanding... an athlete, a National Merit scholar and prom king. He is awesome." 
 
 "We're very concerned for his health and future. We hope he can return to normal. We've been praying for him every night." 
 
 Blue and white ribbons lined the street near the family home. 
 
 A group of students playing tennis outside Wyoming High School, which Warmbier attended, said he is known in the community as "an outstanding student" and a "wonderful guy". While happy he's home, one student said he was "heartbroken to learn he's in a coma." 
 
 His medical evacuation followed a brief flurry of diplomatic activity that involved the highest level of the State Department. 
 
 "At the direction of the president, the Department of State has secured the release of Otto Warmbier from North Korea," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. "Mr. Warmbier is en route to the United States, where he will be reunited with his family. The Department of State continues to have discussions with the DPRK regarding three other U.S. citizens reported detained. Out of respect for the privacy of Mr. Warmbier and his family, we have no further comment on Mr. Warmbier." 
 
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 Warmbier's parents, who have appeared on Fox News Channel in the past to plead for their son's release, expressed somber gratitude. 
 
 “Our son is coming home,” Fred Warmbier told The Washington Post Tuesday morning, after his son had been evacuated from North Korea. “At the moment, we’re just treating this like he’s been in an accident. We get to see our son Otto tonight.” 
 
 Top U.S. officials were quick to express revulsion at North Korea’s reported abuse of the student. 
 
 “Otto’s detainment and sentence was unnecessary and appalling, and North Korea should be universally condemned for its abhorrent behavior,” Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said in a statement. “Otto should have been released from the start. For North Korea to imprison Otto with no notification or consular access for more than a year is the utmost example of its complete failure to recognize fundamental human rights and dignity.” 
 
 “Otto has been in a coma for over a year now and urgently needs proper medical care in the United States,” former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who worked for Warmbier's release with his Center for Global Engagement, said in a statement obtained by Fox News. “We received a call from Cindy and Fred Warmbier early today to update us on Otto’s condition. In no uncertain terms North Korea must explain the causes of his coma.” 
 
 Warmbier was detained on Jan. 2, 2016, at Pyongyang International Airport, while visiting the country as a tourist with Young Pioneer Tours. He was charged with stealing the sign from a staff-only floor in the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang and committing “crimes against the state.” He was given a one-hour trial in March 2016, when the government presented fingerprints, CCTV footage and pictures of a political banner to make its case against the American student. 
 
 “I beg that you see how I am only human,” Warmbier said at his trial. “And how I have made the biggest mistake of my life.” 
 
 Despite his pleas, the college student was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. In a post-trial video released to the world, Warmbier, under obvious duress, praised his captors for his treatment and for handling of the case “fair and square." 
 
 Foreigners who have been detained or imprisoned in the Hermit Kingdom often have a shared experience: confusion, forced confessions, communication blackouts and isolation. 
 
 Warmbier's release leaves three U.S. citizens currently known to be held in North Korea: accounting professor Kim Sang Duk, businessman Kim Dong Chul and Kim Hak-Song, who worked at Pyongyang University. 
 
 AMERICANS RELEASED FROM NORTH KOREAN CAPTIVITY BACK ON US SOIL 
 
 Warmbier's release comes amid worsening tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, largely owing to Pyongyang's continued testing of nuclear-capable missiles. 
 
 The U.S. has no diplomatic relations in North Korea. 
 
 Related Image Expand / Collapse 
 
 Meantime, former NBA star Dennis Rodman, a self-described friend of Kim Jong Un, recently landed in North Korea on a non-U.S.-sanctioned mission he said was aimed at promoting sports in the isolated nation. 
 
 Cristina Corbin is a Fox News reporter based in New York. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaCorbin. ||||| An American college student who, according to his parents, has been in a coma while serving a 15-year prison term in North Korea, was released and evacuated. 
 
 Otto Warmbier was released Tuesday. He was a 2013 graduate of Wyoming High School in Hamilton County, and his family lives in the Cincinnati area. 
 
 Advertisement Related Content Wyoming welcomes home Otto Warmbier 
 
 He was attending the University of Virginia when he was arrested in January 2016 while on a trip to North Korea. 
 
 North Korean officials told U.S. officials that Warmbier contracted botulism and slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill, CNN reports. 
 
 But a Cincinnati doctor does not think that’s the case. 
 
 Dr. Steve Englander with the Cincinnati Health Department said the odds of botulism or sleeping polls causing a coma are marginal. 
 
 Related: Otto Warmbier to arrive back in Cincinnati Tuesday night 
 
 "This is not consistent with what botulism causes in terms of symptoms. It may cause paralysis, but a coma means that you are no longer conscious," Englander said. 
 
 Englander said a virus that causes swelling of the brain would be a more likely cause. He added that there are plenty of other potential causes. 
 
 "No way of knowing without him returning home and getting appropriate medical care and diagnostics," he said. 
 
 And that’s what doctors hope to do in Cincinnati. After Warmbier arrives at Lunken Airport on Tuesday night, he will be taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center for treatment. 
 
 Warmbier’s parents told The Associated Press that their son has been in a coma since last year, but they only learned of his condition last week. With Warmbier reportedly being in a coma for so long, is it possible he can come out of it? 
 
 “I think it all depends on what caused it and what kind of recoverable brain function there is, if, in fact, this is a coma," Englander said. 
 
 Englander said if Warmbier does have botulism, patients can experience paralysis and take days, even months, to recover. He added that those patients are often fully aware and alert. 
 
 AlertMe
– Blue and white ribbons lined the street near Otto Warmbier's family home Tuesday night as the American student freed by North Korea arrived back in Cincinnati. The 22-year-old, who is believed to have been in a coma for more than a year, was rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for urgent treatment after he arrived on a US military flight. A US official confirmed to Fox that Warmbier is a coma, but said he was unable to confirm Pyongyang's claim that he contracted botulism and took a sleeping pill before falling into a coma after his March 2016 trial, in which he was sentenced to 15 years' hard labor for stealing a propaganda banner. The latest: Parents Cindy and Fred boarded the plane when it landed, the Washington Post reports. A few minutes later, Warmbier was carried out on a stretcher by medical personnel. He had a shaved head and a tube in his nose. Well-wishers outside the airport fence held "WELCOME HOME OTTO" signs. In Warmbier's hometown of Wyoming, just outside Cincinnati, residents say they are happy he is free and they are doing their best to support his family. "Everybody feels a sense of relief that he is coming back to the United States," resident Amy Mayer tells the AP. "I think we're very excited yet very prayerful about what is happening because we've heard he is in a coma." A doctor with the Cincinnati Health Department tells WLWT that it is very unlikely that botulism or sleeping pills caused the coma. "This is not consistent with what botulism causes in terms of symptoms. It may cause paralysis, but a coma means that you are no longer conscious," Dr. Steve Englander says. Department of State spokeswoman Heather Nauert says Warmbier's release has nothing to do with Dennis Rodman's latest trip to North Korea, CBS News reports. Ohio's Sen. Rob Portman released a statement condemning Warmbier's sentence as "unnecessary and appalling." "North Korea should be universally condemned for its abhorrent behavior," he said. Former ambassador and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson said he had spoken with Warmbier's parents, who were only informed of his condition a week ago. "We received a call from Cindy and Fred Warmbier early today to update us on Otto's condition," he said in a statement, per AFP. "In no uncertain terms, North Korea must explain the causes of his coma." White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Warmbier's release was "a big priority" for President Trump and he worked "very hard and very closely" with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the issue.