HUMAN RIGHTS/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Thursday [2-28-19] he did not hold Kim Jong Un responsible for the death of Otto Warmbier, the U.S. college student who died after being imprisoned in North Korea. In 2016, Warmbier, then 21 years old, was arrested and accused of committing a ‘hostile act’ as he tried to leave North Korea. He was sent home to his parents in Ohio in June 2017 in a coma with a massive brain injury and died afterward. Trump, who abruptly ended a Vietnam summit with Kim on nuclear disarmament, was asked by a reporter about the discussions he had with the North Korean leader on Warmbier’s death…Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, had been due to stay in North Korea for a five-day study tour when he was accused by North Korea of tearing down a propaganda post in his room. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor. When he was returned home to his parents in Cincinnati, he had a massive brain injury that left him blind, deaf and unable to move on his own. He died a few days later.”
–John Fritze, “‘I don’t believe he knew about it.’ Trump defends Kim Jong Un on Otto Warmbier’s death,” USA Today, February 28, 2019 2:19 pm