Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Otto Warmbier’s Parents Kept Jewishness A Secret To Avoid ‘Embarassing’ North Korea

Otto Warmbier’s parents kept his Jewishness — and his love of Israel — a secret throughout his captivity in North Korea, so as not to embarrass the oppressive regime, according to The Times of Israel.

Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March 2016 for stealing a propaganda poster from a Pyongyang hotel. In the regime’s hour-long trial of Warmbier, they accused him of planning to trade the poster to Friendship United Methodist Church in Wyoming, Ohio, in exchange for a used car.

“The family chose, rightfully so, not to share [his Jewishness] while he was in captivity… because they didn’t want to embarrass [North Korea] by explaining that he actually was Jewish,” said Mickey Bergman, one of the negotiators for Warmbier’s release.

That information could have unraveled the regime’s case against Warmbier, and possibly ended negotiations.

Warmbier, who’s mother is Jewish, went on a birthright trip to Israel in 2014. After he returned from the trip, he began to get more active in his campus Hillel, at the University of Virginia.

“When I was forced to step away to avoid holding up the group for the third time, it honestly felt like saying goodbye to a loved one,” he wrote in a blog post. “It was difficult to wrap my mind around the concept of such a pinnacle — I had done what so many Jews wish to do.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.