Warmbier’s family believes North Korea tortured him, and President Trump criticized the ‘brutality of the North Korean regime’ earlier this…<\/b>
\nThe White House isn’t buying North Korea’s claim that Otto Warmbier’s death was a «mystery.»
«I don’t think it’s a mystery, » White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday. «I think we know very well what happened, and I think as the president said, it’s a disgrace.»
Spicer was responding to comments from an unnamed spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry who said Friday that Warmbier returned to the U. S. «in his normal state of health indicators, » according to North Korea’s state-run news agency, Korean Central News Agency.
Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was detained and held captive by North Korea for 17 months after allegedly attempting to steal a political banner.
North Korea deemed Warmbier’s actions a «hostile act» against the state and sentenced the 22-year-old to 15 years of hard labor.
Warmbier was released to the U. S. last week, and he returned to his home state of Ohio in a state of «unresponsive wakefulness.»
Doctors said the University of Virginia student suffered loss of tissue in all regions of the brain, but the cause of his injuries remains unknown.
He died Monday.
Warmbier’s family believes North Korea tortured him, and President Trump criticized the «brutality of the North Korean regime» earlier this week.
But KCNA reported that North Korea says it treated Warmbier in accordance with domestic law, and called Warmbier a «criminal.»
«Although we had no reason at all to show mercy to such a criminal of the enemy state, we provided him with medical treatment and care with all sincerity on humanitarian basis until his return to the U. S., considering that his health got worse, » the spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said.<\/p>\n