US student's death not in vain, helped lead to North Korean summit: Trump
Trump in Singapore
His parents thanked President Donald Trump for the kind words about their son he gave after his historic summit with North Korea’s leader
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that the college student Otto Warmbier's death has lad to the historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Trump said that Otto did not die in vein days after he was released from jail in North Korean custody in 2017. His parents thanked President Donald Trump for the kind words about their son he gave after his historic summit with North Korea’s leader.
"Without Otto this would not have happened," Trump told a post-summit news conference in Singapore.
"Something happened from that day. It was a terrible thing, it was brutal, but a lot of people started to focus on what was going on, including North Korea."
"I really think that Otto is someone who did not die in vain."
In September last year, Trump accused North Korea of brutally abusing Warmbier and the President publicly accused the country of torture in the case.
Warmbier was a student at University of Virginia who was arrested by North Korean authorities in January 2016 for stealing a propaganda poster and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor. After suffering still unexplained brain injuries, he was released on June 13, 2017 and died six days later.
An Ohio coroner said the cause of his death was lack of oxygen and blood to the brain.
North Korea blamed botulism and ingestion of a sleeping pill and dismissed torture claims.
