N. Korea self-pity over Otto

North Korea said Friday that the death of American tourist Otto Warmbier was a mystery, with the regime denying he had been tortured and casting itself as the “biggest victim” of the affair.

In its first public reaction to Warmbier’s death, a Foreign Ministry spokesman tried to shift blame onto the administration of former President Barack Obama, blaming it for refusing a dialogue with Pyongyang and claiming it never officially asked for his release.

“The fact that Warmbier died suddenly in less than a week after his return to the US in his normal state of health indicators is a mystery to us as well,” the spokesman was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency. “To make it clear, we are the biggest victim of this incident.”

The 22-year-old American university student was arrested while visiting North Korea as a tourist, accused of stealing a propaganda poster and sentenced to 15 years hard labor. He was returned to the United States last week suffering brain damage and died Monday.

North Korea said the sentence had been appropriate and called speculation that he had died as a result of beating or torture “groundless.”