WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the US did now 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 wrote in a tweet.
The Washington Post mentioned on Thursday that Trump had authorized fee of a $2 million invoice from Pyongyang to cowl its care of the comatose university scholar, who was held in a North Korean prison for 17 months until June 2017.
Warmbier, a University of Virginia student from Ohio traveling North Korea as a vacationer, became imprisoned in January 2016. He changed into sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor for allegedly looking to scouse borrow an item with a propaganda slogan from his resort, North Korean kingdom media said.
Warmbier died six days after his release from North Korea. An Ohio coroner said Warmbier died from a loss of 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 now not deal with whether any agreement has been made and representatives for the White House did not right now respond to requests for remark.
Asked whether it becomes accurate to say that no cash turned into paid to North Korea within the Warmbier case, a State Department spokeswoman stated by means of email: “We decline to comment.”
The Treasury Department did no longer respond to a request for remark.
The Post stated a bill changed into passed to then-State Department envoy Joseph Yun hours before Warmbier changed into flown out of Pyongyang in a coma on June 13, 2017.
The U.S. Envoy, who was sent to retrieve Warmbier, signed a settlement to pay the medical bill on commands handed down from Trump, the Post suggested, mentioning two unidentified human beings familiar with the situation.
Yun, who was due to the fact that retired from the State Department, advised CNN on Thursday America did not pay any ransom for American prisoners held with the aid of Pyongyang even as he became the unique representative for North Korea. He left the post in March 2018.
Last December, a U.S. Court docket ordered North Korea to pay $501 million in damages for the torture and death of Warmbier.
