Trump slams 'brutal' North Korea after death of US student Otto Warmbier

CHICAGO //  President Donald Trump slammed the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang following the death of Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement on Monday announcing Warmbier's death.

Warmbier was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment US officials decried as out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Mr Trump condemned Pyongyang following news of his death.

"It's a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents."

He then added with no explanation: "We'll be able to handle it."

In a separate written statement, Mr Trump said, "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."

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."

Secretary of state Rex Tillerson added:"We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."

Ex-Vietnam war POW senator John McCain said in a statement that Warmbier "was murdered by the Kim Jong-Un regime", and added that the United States "cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers".

On Twitter, Republican Senator Marco Rubio wrote that Warmbier "should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it."

Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary who spent almost two years in a North Korean prison before he was released in November 2014, asked people to pray for Warmbier's family.

"For Otto to be returned to the US in the state he was in - and then for him to die because of it - is not only an outrage, but it is a tragedy for his entire family," Mr Bae said in a statement.

"This did not have to happen and should never happen again."

Doctors last week said that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said on Monday that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace".

Kim Jong-Un's regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, and that he had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Tests carried out in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a botulism infection. Warmbier's doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said that Warmbier's brain injury was probably caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."

His death also brought attention to North Korea's human rights record.

The Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea tied Warmbier's fate to "millions of unknown North Koreans" who are "starved, tortured, brutalised and killed in North Korea's political prison camps".

Warmbier's family said they believed the student had found peace after being flown home.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished," they said.

"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.

* Agence France-Presse