Warmbier's death overshadows summit

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Tue, September 26, 2023 | 08:25

Foreign Affairs

Warmbier's death overshadows summit

Posted : 2017-06-20 16:11

Updated : 2017-06-21 16:56

President Moon Jae-in holds an interview with the U.S. broadcaster CBS' news program "This Morning" at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Tuesday. Earlier in the day, Moon offered condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. student who died after being returned home in a coma following 17 months of detention in North Korea, and criticized the North's human rights abuses. / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae

President slams North Korea over US student's death

By Kim Rahn, Rachel Lee

Otto Warmbier

President Moon Jae-in harshly criticized North Korea, Tuesday, for its human rights abuses following the death of a U.S. citizen who was returned home in a coma after 17 months of detention in the North.

His death is expected to worsen already-strained U.S.-North Korea relations and push the Donald Trump administration to adopt a harder attitude toward the reclusive state ahead of a summit with Moon next week.

Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday that the President sent a telegram of condolence to the family of Otto Warmbier, 22, a former University of Virginia student who died Monday, six days after he was released from North Korea.

His family said Warmbier died of the "torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans."

"Moon offered his condolences to the family," presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said. "He also deplored the fact that the North does not respect human rights, a universal value of humanity."

In an interview with foreign media the previous day, the President raised the question over whether North Korea fulfilled its humanitarian responsibility such as telling the family immediately when Warmbier's condition took a turn for the worse, and offering the best possible medical treatment for Warmbier.

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President Moon told CBS in an interview Tuesday that North Korea had a "heavy" responsibility in the process that led to Warmbier's death.

However, the President said dialogue with the North was necessary since South Korea has failed to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through only sanctions and pressure.

Moon also believed his position was not at odds with that of President Trump's policy toward the North.

"It seems to me that President Trump has criticized the failed former policies of his predecessors. And on that point, I have the same view as President Trump," Moon said in the interview.

He also made it clear that dialogue with Pyongyang will not happen unless certain conditions are met.

A freeze of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs should come first, followed by the complete dismantlement of its nuclear programs, Moon said. Asked whether he would support a pre-emptive strike on the North, the President said he believed this could be discussed among the relevant heads of state if a threat becomes more urgent.

He also said he hoped that conditions would become right for dialogue before the end of the year.

"Just because we believe dialogue is necessary does not mean we have to be impatient for it," President Moon said.

Trump may suggest adding more pressure on the North over its nuclear programs rather than engagement during the summit with Moon in Washington, D.C., slated for June 29 and 30. The two leaders may have difficulty in coming to a unified opinion, as Moon's basic stance is to seek both sanctions and dialogue and a step-by-step resolution of the nuclear issue.

Trump said in a statement, "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."

Republican Senator John McCain even said Warmbier was "murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime." "The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers," he said in a statement.

The Seoul government is watching how the situation develops and whether details about Warmbier's demise will be uncovered, such as how he fell into a coma. If he died from the results of torture or other mistreatment as his family claims, negative public sentiment toward Pyongyang in the U.S. and the international community will grow.

rahnita@ktimes.com