North Korea on Friday accused the U. S. of waging a « smear campaign » over the death of a student who was sent back home in a coma, denying he was tortured or abused. President Donald Trump has slammed the treatment of 22-year-old…
North Korea on Friday accused the U. S. of waging a « smear campaign » over the death of a student who was sent back home in a coma, denying he was tortured or abused.
President Donald Trump has slammed the treatment of 22-year-old American Otto Warmbier, who spent more than a year in detention in the secretive state, as « a total disgrace ».
« The smear campaign against (North Korea) staged in the U. S. compels us to make firm determination that… we should further sharpen the blade of law », the foreign ministry spokesman said according to state media.
« The U. S. should ponder over the consequences to be entailed from its reckless and rash act, » he said in an apparent warning over the fate of three other U. S. citizens currently being held in the country.
The spokesman said that Warmbier was provided with proper medical treatment, and questioned why he died so soon after returning to the U. S.
« The fact that Warmbier died suddenly in less than a week just after his return to the U. S. in his normal state of health indicators is a mystery to us as well, » he said.
Warmbier had been on a tourist trip to North Korea when he was detained and sentenced to hard labour early last year for allegedly stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel.
Doctors said the University of Virginia student had suffered severe brain damage while in North Korean detention.
