US President Donald Trump has responded to the fierce criticism of his testimony to the late US student Otto Warmbier and spoke of a misunderstanding. „Of course, I blame North Korea for Otto’s abuse and death,“ Trump wrote on Twitter yesterday. It should not be forgotten that he himself provided for Warmbier’s release.
He could never suffer if his statements were misrepresented, complained Trump. In particular, this applies to the case of Warmbier and his „great family“. The president continued: „I love Otto and often think of him!“
At the beginning of 2016, the then 21-year-old hot beer was arrested on departure after a group trip to North Korea and sentenced to 15 years in a forced labor camp for „hostile actions against the state“. In 2017, he was released and returned to the US. He died a few days after returning to the US in June 2017 – he had been in a coma for 15 months.
Parents are outraged over Trump’s statements in Hanoi
Warmbier’s parents have sued North Korea for „brutal torture and murder“ and demand more than $ 500 million (about 438 million euros) from the Pyongyang regime. They accuse the regime of leader Kim Jong Un of having taken hostage to Otto Warmbier, held him as a political prisoner and brutally abused him.
Following his meeting with Kim in Vietnam, Trump had defended the North Korean ruler in the case of Warmbier and said he believed Kim had not known about the imprisonment of the young man in his country. This caused great outrage among the parents of the deceased student – as well as members of the US Congress.
