Otto W.

So, I'd revealed a thought I had about Otto Warmbier's situation today: that North Korea didn't want anyone to think it was possible — or that anyone would do it in their country — but that Otto Warmbier may have tried to take his own life unsuccessfully.

Naturally, since this is one of those "unthinkable" things, and because it does sound somewhat callous to think it, it's not a thought that would go over well.

I'm a person who tends to have logical leaps, thinking things that seem so probable and right, but not being able to substantiate it with hard evidence. Some may call them hunches, but it's more than that. I think of things with having experienced, read, thought, or otherwise went over them before, but I just can't cite my sources (I usually can't remember them). I did have such a leap a while ago when someone in the news had died and I'd figured it s suicide.

It turned out to be such, and they left it alone after that (I suppose to not "glorify" the act).

It shouldn't be so wild to think someone might try suicide if under conditions where oppression, lack of freedom, and hardship are almost the whole of one's day. A friend of mine brought up that it would probably be painful for the parents to hear someone think their son might have tried to kill himself. I did mention there's nothing to refute completely that option, but I did understand that line of thinking.

It wouldn't excuse North Korea if they didn't contribute directly to his death (as in, he would have been the initiator, if it was attempted suicide), but they'd be at least manslaughterers.

It would be another turn on the Massachusetts case that found the girl guilty for egging on her ex-boyfriend to kill himself: the judge convicted her of involuntary manslaughter.