President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the previous administration failed Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old student who died yesterday after he was released from North Korea.
Warmbier was held prisoner for 17 months in North Korea before he was returned to the United States in a vegetative state on June 13.
Trump indicated in remarks on Tuesday that he believes his predecessor, Barack Obama, could have done more to prevent the tragedy.
'It's a disgrace what happened to Otto. It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto. It should never, ever be allowed to happen,' Trump told reporters during an Oval Office photo op. 'He should have been brought home that same day. The results would have been a lot different.'
President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that the previous administration failed Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old student who died yesterday after he was released from North Korea
The boy's father says Barack Obama's government told the family to keep a 'low profile' while it worked for his release. It gave up on that strategy after the government changed hands and began doing media appearances.
Fred Warmbier, Otto's father, credits a career foreign service officer in the Bureau of East
Asian and Pacific Affairs, Joeseph Yun, and the Trump administration for the release of his son.
'It is my understanding that Ambassador Yun and his team, at the direction of the president aggressively pursued resolution of the situation,' he said at a June 15 news conference.
Asked about Obama's efforts to bring back his son, and whether the former president could have done more, Warmbier said 'the results speak for themselves.'
Trump said Tuesday that he had spoken with the Warmbier family and they are 'incredible' people.
'But he should have been brought home a long time ago,' the president added in an apparent swipe at Obama's government.
Otto Warmbier (pictured in custody in Pyongyang last January) died Monday just days after being brought back to the United States in a coma from North Korea
John Kirby, the State Department spokesman at the end of Obama's second term, told CNN earlier on Tuesday that the Democrats' administration worked 'very, very hard' to get Warmbier back.
'I understand the frustration that they feel,' said Kirby, a retired rear admiral. 'I can’t possibly imagine the grief they’re going through right now.'
Responding to criticisms of the Obama administration's efforts, he said, 'I can assure that the State Department at the very highest levels worked this very, very hard.'
Trump took aim at Kim Jong Un on Monday after offering his 'deepest condolences' to the Warmbier family the death of their son.
'A lot of bad things happened. But at least we got him home to be with his parents, where they were so happy to see him, even though he was in very tough condition,' Trump said at the top of a tech event.
Trump said Un's government is a 'brutal regime' as he promised 'we’ll be able to handle it.'
Warmbier was returned in a vegetative state to his family in Cincinnati, Ohio, after 17 months in North Korea, where he was arrested as a student for the alleged theft of a propaganda poster in January 2016.
Donald Trump has offered his 'deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier following the 22-year-old's death shortly after he was released from North Korea
The White House released this statement, which was then tweeted by Trump, on Monday evening
'Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing,' a statement from the White House on Monday afternoon read.
'There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto's family and friends, and all who loved him.'
The White House statement was released hours after the 22-year-old's family confirmed his death.
Warmbier was unable to communicate when he returned home, having suffered serious brain loss during his time behind bars.
'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,' Trump's statement said Monday.
'The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.'
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