2/28/2019

HUMAN RIGHTS/NORTH KOREA/SUMMIT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The family of Otto Warmbier, the American student who died in 2017 after being imprisoned in North Korea, spoke out on Friday about President Trump’s refusal to blame Kim Jong-un for the death of their son, saying the North Korean leader was responsible. The statement was the first reaction from Mr. Warmbier’s parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, to the president’s comments during a summit meeting with Mr. Kim in Vietnam this week that he would take him ‘at his word’ that he did not know about Mr. Warmbier’s treatment while in prison…Mr. Trump’s remarks had set off anger and sympathy for the young man’s family among political leaders in the United States on Thursday, as he abruptly wrapped up his meeting with Mr. Kim. Mr. Trump said that he and Mr. Kim had discussed Mr. Warmbier and that Mr. Kim felt “badly” about what happened to the American. Mr. Warmbier died shortly after he was released to the United States, with doctors saying he had sustained a catastrophic brain injury.”

Christine Hauser, “Responding to Trump, Otto Warmbier’s Parents Blame Kim Jong-un and ‘Evil Regime’ for Son’s Death,” The New York Times online, February 28, 2019