"He has not spoken", Kanter said at a news conference.
"He announced that Warmbier "[showed] no sign of understanding language, responding to verbal commands or [being aware of] his surroundings".
Doctors remain uncertain about the exact cause of Warmbier's condition, yet his family does not believe North Korea's claim that he fell into a coma after becoming ill with botulism and taking a sleeping pill. The reclusive country accused the University of Virginia student of anti-state activities.
At the moment, the State Department "strongly warns US citizens not to travel to North Korea/the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)", according to the travel warning on its website.
A United Nations human rights investigator called on North Korea on Friday to explain why an American student was in a coma when he was returned home after more than a year in detention there.
No evidence of active botulism, a rare illness caused by a toxin, was found.
It was only a week ago, after a U.S. diplomatic effort, that they were told he had been in a coma since shortly after being incarcerated in March 2016 for stealing a political poster from a hotel.
An MRI of his brain revealed "extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of the brain", Kanter said, along with "profound weakness" in his leg and arm muscles.
It is possible to have respiratory arrest caused by an overdose of medication, intentional or otherwise, he said.
Warmbier made it clear he does not believe North Korea's explanation of botulism combined with a sleeping pill for Otto's condition.
Residents of the northern Cincinnati suburb tied blue-and-white ribbons, the school colours, to trees near the family's home.
He was medically evacuated from North Korea and arrived in Cincinnati late Tuesday. In March 2016, the #American student was sentenced to 15 years hard labor and was not seen in public since then.
Justin Thomas sets single round record at US Open
Thomas carded a sensational, nine-under 63 at Erin Hills on Saturday to move firmly into contention at the year's second major. He landed the ball perfectly on the fringe of the green and it rolled just past the hole for a makeable eagle putt.
Fred Warmbier told reporters his son had been held as a "war criminal'".
But Yun managed to see the other three detained Americans while in Pyongyang, providing the USA with much-sought information about their condition.
On Thursday, North Korea's state-run news agency said that a court had allowed Warmbier to return home "on humanitarian grounds".
The U.S. State Department said on June 15 that the release was negotiated by Joseph Yun, special envoy to North Korea.
President Trump called Warmbier's parents Wednesday night to tell them his administration had worked hard to secure their son's release, and to ask how he was doing.
Gratton says he and Warmbier were among the last people to go through security at Pyongyang International Airport on that morning.
The student's father also criticized the previous administration of Barack Obama for not having done more for their son.
Warmbier's parents have been fighting for the release of their son, a University of Virginia student, since his arrest.
Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, called for an investigation into what happened to Warmbier.
Richardson, a Democrat, credited the State Department with securing Warmbier's return from North Korea without any preconditions but said a forceful response from the USA government would be required "if it's determined that there was a coverup and Otto's condition was not disclosed and he didn't get proper treatment".
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday argued for the ban, saying about 5,000 Western tourists take risks to go there each year and highlighting "dangers amplified by heightened tension" between Washington and Pyongyang.
According to the North Korean government, Warmbier was detained because he had sneaked onto a restricted floor of his hotel and had stolen a political poster.
Comments