FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA: “North Korea lashed out at the U.S. over criticisms of its treatment of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American student who died earlier this week after his return home in a coma, in a sharply worded statement that is likely to further inflame tensions between Washington and Pyongyang.
The remarks from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, the first since Mr. Warmbier’s death, described Pyongyang as ‘the biggest victim’ of the incident and called the University of Virginia undergraduate ‘a criminal who committed hostile acts’ against North Korea.
The statement called the U.S. condemnations of Mr. Warmbier’s treatment a ‘smear campaign abusing the humanitarian measure’ that Pyongyang made in releasing Mr. Warmbier, who North Korea described as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency on assignment in Pyongyang.”
-Johnathan Cheng, “North Korea Calls U.S. Furor Over Warmbier a ‘Smear Campaign’,” The Wall Street Journal online, June 23, 2017 10:32am