President Trump slammed North Korea's "brutal regime" Monday after
the death of college student Otto Warmbier, who was released by the
communist nation in a coma last week.
"Lot of bad things
happened," Trump said during a White House meeting with technology CEOs,
“but at least we got him home to be with his parents."
"It's a brutal regime," Trump went on, "and we'll be able to handle it."
Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson said the United States held North Korea
accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment" and demanded that the
country release three other Americans it is holding prisoner for alleged
crimes against the state. The U.S. government has previously accused
North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns.
Warmbier
was held by North Korea for more than 17 months before he was medically
evacuated June 13. He died Monday at University of Cincinnati Medical
Center, near where he grew up in suburban Wyoming.
Warmbier’s
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."
In a
written statement, Trump said that "Otto's fate deepens my
Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling
innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of
law or basic human decency."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Nikki Haley, who has led the charge for tougher sanctions on North
Korea over its nuclear missile program, said "Countless innocent men and
women have died at the hand of the North Korean criminals, but the
singular case of Otto Warmbier touches the American heart like no other.
"While
Otto Warmbier's memory will always be a blessing to his loved ones,"
Haley added, "it will also serve as an indelible reminder to us of the
barbaric nature of the North Korean dictatorship."
Warmbier had
traveled to North Korea as part of a tour group when he was detained at
Pyongyang's airport in January 2016. The company that organized the
trip, Young Pioneer Tours, announced after Warmbier's death that it
would no longer organize tours of North Korea for U.S. citizens.
"The
assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too
high," said the company, which has also offered tours to Iran, Iraq and
former Soviet republicans and boasted of booking "budget tours to
destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from."
The
State Department warns against travel to North Korea, but does not
explicitly forbid it. While nearly all Americans who have been there
have left without incident, visitors can be suddenly seized and face
lengthy incarceration for what might seem like minor infractions.
On
Capitol Hill, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the chairman of the House
Foreign Relations Committee, called for the U.S. to ban all tourist
travel to North Korea.
"Travel propaganda lures far too many
people to North Korea," Royce said. "This is a regime that regularly
kidnaps foreign citizens and keeps 120,000 North Koreans in barbaric
gulags."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Warmbier was "murdered by the [North Korean dictator] Kim Jong-un[sic] regime."
"In
the final year of his life, he lived the nightmare in which the North
Korean people have been trapped for 70 years: forced labor, mass
starvation, systematic cruelty, torture, and murder," McCain said, later
adding, "The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate
the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."
Sen. Rob Portman,
R-Ohio, said North Korea should be "universally condemned for its
abhorrent behavior.” He added that Warmbier’s family "had to endure more
than any family should have to bear."
Ohio’s other senator, Democrat Sherrod Brown, said the country's "despicable actions ... must be condemned."
“Our hearts are broken for Otto’s family and everyone who knew and loved him,” Brown added.
The state's governor, John Kasich, described Warmbier as "a young man of exceptional spirit."
"This
horrendous situation further underscores the evil, oppressive nature of
the North Korean regime that has such disregard for human life," Kasich
says.