In the case of US student Otto Warmbier, who died following a detention in North Korea, US President Donald Trump has come after leader Kim Jong Un, causing consternation in Washington. Leading members of the US Congress disagreed with Trump’s words.
Trump said yesterday after the end of the fruitless summit in Hanoi with Kim that he had talked to him about the allegedly severely tortured student. Kim „tells me that he did not know anything about it, and I take him at my word“. However, Kim knew the case „very well, but learned about it later,“ Trump said. In North Korean detention, „some very bad things“ happened with hot beer.
Warmbier died a few days after release
The student was sentenced to 15 years in a labor camp during a North Korean trip in early 2016 for the alleged theft of a propaganda poster. He went into a coma under unclear circumstances and was eventually released by North Korea. In June 2017, he died a few days after his return to the United States.
A US court concluded that the 22-year-old was being tortured in North Korea. Pyongyang has denied any abuse of hot beer and stated that the student had contracted a severe food poisoning.
