WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on White House reaction to Otto Warmbier’s death (all times EDT):
5:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump is offering his condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier, who died Monday after being held for more than 17 months by North Korea.
Trump says in a written statement that there “is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life.” And he’s condemning the “brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.”
The 22-year-old Warmbier (WARM’-beer) was in a coma when he was released by North Korea last week. His family is blaming mistreatment their son received at the hands of the North Koreans for his death.
Trump says the death deepens his determination to prevent future tragedies “at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.”
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5:40 p.m.
President Donald Trump is calling North Korea a “brutal regime” following the death of American college student Otto Warmbier (WARM’-beer).
Trump says, “Lot of bad things happened but at least we got him home to be with his parents.”
Warmbier was released by North Korea last week after being held for more than 17 months. He was in a coma.
His family said in a statement that “the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans” meant that “no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.”
Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in North Korea, convicted of subversion after he tearfully confessed he had tried to steal a propaganda banner.
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