The relevant question isn't "did he break the law", but "did NK mistreat him, or neglect him in custody, causing his illness"? I haven't seen any evidence they caused his illness through mistreatment, and it'd be pretty much impossible to prove so long after the fact if they did, unless said mistreatment involved broken bones or something. But what is much more believable is him being assaulted, perhaps strangled, by other prisoners upon incarceration, which would explain the "lack of oxygen to the brain" that the coroners report mentioned.

The DPRK authorities have some responsibility, if they are going to imprison him, to make sure that doesn't happen, IMO. It would fall under neglect. I mean either way he's no martyr, I certainly don't condemn the DPRK for it, but I think it's fair to say they could have handled it better. If this were one case out of dozens, or hundreds, of americans getting arrested in the DPRK, and one guy happens to get sick and go into a coma in custody, I'd be happy to accept it was coincidence or just stress, but it's not a common occurrence for an american to go to prison there, and americans are (rightly) hated there, so it's sorta hard to accept a healthy US college student just abruptly went into a vegetative coma with no acute cause besides stress when there are so many other possibilities that seem much more likely and simple.