WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the U.S. did not pay any cash to North Korea because it sought the discharge of Otto Warmbier a day after a report stated Trump had authorized a $2 million bill from Pyongyang for the American pupil’s care.
“No money became paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, no longer Million Dollars, not anything else,” Trump tweeted. The Washington Post mentioned on Thursday that Trump had authorized a fee of a $2 million invoice from Pyongyang to cover its care of the unconscious university scholar, who was held in a North Korean prison for 17 months until June 2017. Warmbier, a University of Virginia student from
While traveling to North Korea as a vacationer, Ohio became imprisoned in January 2016. North Korean kingdom media said he was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor for allegedly looking to borrow an item with a propaganda slogan from his resort. Warmbier died six days after his release from North Korea. An Ohio coroner said Warmbier died from losing oxygen and blood to his brain. North Korea, which has brushed off claims that it tortured the scholar, blamed meals poisoning and a drowsing tablet.
The Treasury Department acquired the bill from North Korea, and it remained unpaid through 2017, the Post mentioned. It was not clear whether or not the management paid the invoice later. Trump’s tweet did not deal with whether any agreement has been made, and representatives for the White House did not respond to requests for remarks. Asked whether it becomes accurate to say that no cash was paid to North Korea during the Warmbier case, a State Department spokeswoman stated using an email: “We decline to comment.” The Treasury Department did no longer respond to a request for remark.
