Seoul and US accuse North over Warmbier
South Korea says Pyongyang bears ‘heavy responsibility’ while Trump slams ‘brutal regime’ for the student’s demise
WASHINGTON // South Korean president Moon Jae-in yesterday said North Korea bears a “heavy responsibility” for the death of US student Otto Warmbier and described its regime as irrational. Warmbier, 22, died on Monday after he was released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea. US president Donald Trump decried the “brutal regime” in Pyongyang, which had sentenced Warmbier to 15 years of hard labour for theft. Warmbier, who was suffering from severe brain damage, was flown to the US on Tuesday last week. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati. Mr Moon said: “We cannot know for sure that North Korea killed Mr Warmbier but I believe it is quite clear that they have a heavy responsibility in the process that led to his death.” In the United States, Mr Trump said “bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents”. He then said, with no explanation: “We’ll be able to handle it.”
China yesterday voiced sorrow over Warmbier’s death and urged Washington and Pyongyang to resolve tensions through dialogue.
“I think this is an unfortunate thing,” said a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry. “We hope that North Korea and the US can handle it appropriately.” North Korea claimed that Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, saying he had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.
But his family said on Monday after his death that “the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible”.
Warmbier was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years of hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment US officials decried as out of proportion to his alleged crime. “Otto’s fate deepens my administration’s determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency,” Mr Trump said.
“The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.”
US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said: “We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier’s unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained.” US senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, said Warmbier “was murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime”, and that the US “cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers”.
His colleague, senator Marco Rubio, tweeted that Warmbier “should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it”.
Last week, doctors said Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, adding that he was in a state of “unresponsive wakefulness”, opening his eyes and blinking but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings. Warmbier’s family said on Monday that he appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died “at peace”.
Tests carried out in the US offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a botulism infection.
Warmbier’s doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain but showed no signs of physical trauma. They said Warmbier’s brain injury was probably caused by cardiopulmonary arrest, cutting the blood supply to the brain.
Tensions between the US and North Korea have been mounting after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, which Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed “a clear and present danger to all”.
“When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable, almost anguished,” they said. “Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed – he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.”
‘ The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim Donald Trump US president