Speaking in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday, Cindy Warmbier, the mother of  Otto Warmbier, who was detained in North Korea and allegedly tortured by North Korea after he was convicted in 2016 of trying to steal a propaganda poster, then died after he returned to the United States in 2017, lashed out at North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, saying at a news conference, “I&#8217;m hoping to visit the DMZ and say, &#8216;Hello, I&#8217;m Otto&#8217;s mom. I hate you. I hate you so much, but you can&#8217;t hurt me anymore &#8230; I want to look you in the eye and see evil and face it and know that as good people, we will win.&#8217;”
As <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7713557/Parents-late-US-hostage-chasing-North-Korean-assets.html">The Daily Mail</a> reports, Cindy Warmbier and her husband Fred are determined to find and eliminate illicit North Korean business assets around the world. The Warmbiers appealed to President Trump to address North Korea&#8217;s human rights abuses while the U.S. negotiates with North Korea.
Fred Warmbier stated, “We feel that if you force North Korea to engage the world in a legal standpoint, then they will have to ultimately have a dialogue. They are not going to come and have a dialogue with us any other way.”
The Daily Mail notes:
<blockquote>In December 2018, a U.S. federal judge ordered North Korea to pay more than $500 million in a wrongful death suit filed by the Warmbiers over their son, although they are unlikely to collect on the judgment … The Warmbiers have been pushing legal action seeking the closure of a hostel operated on the grounds of the North Korean Embassy in Berlin and plan to go after other hostels the country operates in Europe, which they say are aimed at pressuring governments to tighten their enforcement of sanctions against Pyongyang.</blockquote>
Cindy Warmbier asserted, “We cannot give up, we can&#8217;t give them a pass. We have to fight with all of our power.”
Three months after Otto’s death, his parents gave their first interview since his passing.  In a wrenching recollection, Fred Warmbier <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/otto-warmbiers-parents-describe-sons-return-home-frank-camp">recounted</a> how they greeted their son when he came home from South Korea:
<blockquote>We walked over to the plane, the engines are still humming, they had just landed. We walked up the steps. When we got half way up the steps, we heard this howling, involuntary, inhuman sound. We weren’t really certain what it was. We climbed to the top of the steps, and we looked in, and Otto was on the stretcher, across — in the plane, and he was jerking violently, making these inhuman sounds.
Cindy and Greta ran off the plane; Austin and I walked over to Otto. Otto had a shaved head, he had a feeding tube coming out of his nose, he was staring blankly into space, jerking violently; he was blind, he was deaf. As we looked at him and tried to comfort him, it looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth.</blockquote>
Fred Warmbier stated, &#8220;I knelt down by his side and I hugged him and I told him I missed him and I was so glad that he made it home.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EJUQJpKBYfM" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

President Trump Addresses The Nation In His First State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of  Congress

Otto Warmbier’s Mom To Kim Jong Un: ‘I Hate You … You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore’

North Korea

Otto Warmbier

On Thursday, President Donald Trump took heat from politicos on both sides of the aisle for his remarks concerning the brutal treatment and eventual death of former University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier in 2017. The president said he believed North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un when he told him he was unaware of Warmbier&#8217;s inhumane treatment during a quick press conference following the failed talks with the cloistered nation.
Taking to Twitter on Friday, President Trump attempted to clarify his remarks, which he said were &#8220;misinterpreted&#8221; by the media.
&#8220;I never like being misinterpreted, but especially when it comes to Otto Warmbier and his great family,&#8221; said Trump. &#8220;Remember, I got Otto out along with three others. The previous Administration did nothing, and he was taken on their watch.&#8221;
&#8220;Of course I hold North Korea responsible for Otto&#8217;s mistreatment and death,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Most important, Otto Warmbier will not have died in vain. Otto and his family have become a tremendous symbol of strong passion and strength, which will last for many years into the future. I love Otto and think of him often!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
&#8230;.for Otto&#8217;s mistreatment and death. Most important, Otto Warmbier will not have died in vain. Otto and his family have become a tremendous symbol of strong passion and strength, which will last for many years into the future. I love Otto and think of him often!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1101588728500363265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Notably, the president did not specify if Kim Jong-un himself was aware of the treatment.
&#8220;I really believe something very bad happened to him, and I don&#8217;t think that the top leadership knew about it,&#8221; said Trump on Thursday during a post-summit presser. &#8220;[Kim Jong-un] felt very badly about it&#8230;He tells me that he didn&#8217;t know about it, and I will take him at his word.&#8221;
The parents of Otto Warmbier, Fred and Cindy, released a statement on Friday condemning the president&#8217;s remarks. &#8220;We have been respectful during this summit process,&#8221; they said. &#8220;Now we must speak out. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuses or lavish praise can change that.&#8221;
The Warmbiers praised President Trump in 2017 for returning their child home, and were official White House guests to the 2018 State of the Union.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Kim&#8217;s brutal regime is responsible for this young American&#8217;s death and no amount of &#8220;taking Kim at his word&#8221; is going to change that, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a>. <a href="https://t.co/Y9On14PyrM">pic.twitter.com/Y9On14PyrM</a>
&#8212; Chip Roy (@chiproytx) <a href="https://twitter.com/chiproytx/status/1101512731574845440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Friday that Trump &#8220;agrees with the Warmbier family.&#8221;
&#8220;The president agrees with the Warmbier family and holds North Korea responsible for Otto Warmbier&#8217;s death,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44142/kellyanne-conway-defends-trump-over-his-otto-frank-camp">said</a>. &#8220;He&#8217;s said that time and again. This president is responsible for having Otto Warmbier returned to this country and be reunited with his family in his final hours before he passed.&#8221;
Conway continued: &#8220;What the president is talking about [is] that Chairman Kim did not know what happened to Otto at the time of when it happened. And so, of course he holds North Korea responsible. He has deep affection and shares the grief for the Warmbier family, and that will never end, as will not the president agreeing with the Warmbier family that North Korea&#8217;s responsible.&#8221;
&#8220;But Chairman Kim did not know &#8211; what the president is saying is that there&#8217;s no indication Chairman Kim knew what happened [to] Otto Warmbier when it happened. It&#8217;s after he was returned here to the United States that we all learned of his sad and frankly unforgivable state,&#8221; she added.
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
President Trump on Otto Warmbier: &#8220;I really believe something very bad happened to him, and I don&#8217;t think that the top leadership knew about it&#8230;(Kim Jong-Un) felt very badly about it&#8230;He tells me that he didn&#8217;t know about it, and I will take him at his word.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/EWnw7BzVNe">pic.twitter.com/EWnw7BzVNe</a>
&#8212; Axios (@axios) <a href="https://twitter.com/axios/status/1101114801814732801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

Trump Attempts To Clarify His ‘Misinterpreted’ Remarks On Otto Warmbier

On Thursday, during a press conference following President Trump&#8217;s meeting with Kim Jong Un, the president was asked if he had spoken with the North Korean dictator about the abuse and subsequent death of American Otto Warmbier.
In response to the question, Trump <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/2/28/18241334/trump-north-korea-press-conference-full-text">said</a>:
<blockquote>
I have. And I really don&#8217;t think it was in his interest at all. I know the Warmbier family very well. I think they&#8217;re an incredible family. What happened is horrible. I really believe something horrible happened to him, and I really don&#8217;t think the top leadership knew about it.
And when they had to send him home &#8211; by the way, I got the prisoners back and the hostages back. The others came back extremely healthy but Otto came back in a condition that was terrible. And I did speak about it, but I don&#8217;t believe he would have allowed that to happen. It just wasn&#8217;t to his advantage to allow that to happen. Those prisons are rough, they&#8217;re rough places and bad things happened. But I really don&#8217;t believe that he was &#8211; I don&#8217;t believe he knew about it&#8230;
He felt badly about it. He knew the case very well, but he knew it later. And you&#8217;ve got a lot of people, big country, a lot of people. And in those prisons and those camps you have a lot of people. And some really bad things happened to Otto, some really, really bad things. He tells me that he didn&#8217;t know about it, and I will take him at his word.
</blockquote>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
President Trump on Otto Warmbier: &#8220;I really believe something very bad happened to him, and I don&#8217;t think that the top leadership knew about it&#8230;(Kim Jong-Un) felt very badly about it&#8230;He tells me that he didn&#8217;t know about it, and I will take him at his word.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/EWnw7BzVNe">pic.twitter.com/EWnw7BzVNe</a>
&#8212; Axios (@axios) <a href="https://twitter.com/axios/status/1101114801814732801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Following the president&#8217;s comment, the Warmbier family released a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/01/politics/otto-warmbier-family-trump-north-korea/index.html">statement</a>, which read in part:
<blockquote>
Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuses or lavish praise can change that.
</blockquote>
On Friday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway appeared on Fox News, and defended President Trump over the controversial remarks:
<blockquote>
The president agrees with the Warmbier family and holds North Korea responsible for Otto Warmbier&#8217;s death. He&#8217;s said that time and again. This president is responsible for having Otto Warmbier returned to this country and be reunited with his family in his final hours before he passed.
What the president is talking about [is] that Chairman Kim did not know what happened to Otto at the time of when it happened. And so, of course he holds North Korea responsible. He has deep affection and shares the grief for the Warmbier family, and that will never end, as will not the president agreeing with the Warmbier family that North Korea&#8217;s responsible.
But Chairman Kim did not know &#8211; what the president is saying is that there&#8217;s no indication Chairman Kim knew what happened [to] Otto Warmbier when it happened. It&#8217;s after he was returned here to the United States that we all learned of his sad and frankly unforgivable state.
</blockquote>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FhHRwYMXMv4" width="720"></iframe></div>
Several politicians and media figures have offered their own statements, or outright condemned the president for what he said.
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/432224-schumer-demands-trump-apologize-to-otto-warmbiers-parents">said</a> that Trump &#8220;owes Otto Warmbier&#8217;s parents an apology.&#8221;
Fox News&#8217; Chris Wallace slammed Trump, <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/trump/chris-wallace-rips-trump-why-on-earth-would-you-side-with-kim-jong-un-over-the-warmbier-family/">saying</a>: &#8220;Why on Earth would you side with Kim Jong Un over the Warmbier family and the sense of outrage?&#8221;
And former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tweeted:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Americans know the cruelty that was placed on Otto Warmbier by the North Korean regime. Our hearts are with the Warmbier family for their strength and courage. We will never forget Otto.
&#8212; Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) <a href="https://twitter.com/NikkiHaley/status/1101148561197158400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
In January 2016, American college student Otto Warmbier was <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/otto-warmbier-north-korea-american-hostage-true-story">detained</a> during a trip to North Korea after being accused of stealing a government propaganda poster. He was then forced to publicly confess, reading from what many believe was a script written by state officials.
Despite his pleas to return home, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. In June 2017, nearly a year and a half after he was initially detained, Warmbier was <a href="http://time.com/4817541/otto-warmbier-north-korea-us/">returned</a> to the United States in a coma. Less than a week later, he passed away.
North Korean officials blamed the coma on botulism, but according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/world/north-korea-otto-warmbier-rodman.html">The New York Times</a>, an anonymous government official said that the U.S. government had &#8220;obtained intelligence reports &#8230; indicating that Mr. Warmbier had been repeatedly beaten while in North Korean custody.&#8221;
However, when coroner Lakshmi Kode Sammarco performed an external examination, she found &#8220;no obvious signs of torture,&#8221; reports <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/health/otto-warmbier-coroner-report/index.html">CNN</a>. Instead, the damage to Warmbier&#8217;s brain appeared to be the result of extended oxygen deprivation. The means by which Warmbier&#8217;s brain may have been starved of oxygen are unknown.

Kellyanne Conway Defends Trump Over His Controversial Otto Warmbier Comments

Donald Trump

Kim Jong Un

Yesterday morning, after the conclusion of his much-ballyhooed but quickly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44085/trump-was-right-walk-away-table-his-overall-north-ben-shapiro">aborted</a> Vietnamese tryst with North Korean madman dictator Kim Jong-un, President Donald Trump made deeply controversial remarks pertaining to Otto Warmbier &#8212; the young American citizen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/17770/malkin-double-murder-otto-warmbier-michelle-malkin">murdered</a> by the Stalinist North Korean regime in 2017. Warmbier, a former University of Virgnia student, was returned in a vegetative state by the North Koreans in 2017, over a year after being captured. His parents have <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/warmbiers-parents-push-back-on-trump-comments-blame-kims-evil-regime-for-sons-death">claimed</a> that he was brutally tortured by the hermit kingdom&#8217;s Communist minions.
&#8220;I really believe something very bad happened to him, and I don&#8217;t think that the top leadership knew about it,&#8221; Trump said at a post-summit press conference. &#8220;[Kim Jong-un] felt very badly about it&#8230;He tells me that he didn&#8217;t know about it, and I will take him at his word.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
President Trump on Otto Warmbier: &#8220;I really believe something very bad happened to him, and I don&#8217;t think that the top leadership knew about it&#8230;(Kim Jong-Un) felt very badly about it&#8230;He tells me that he didn&#8217;t know about it, and I will take him at his word.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/EWnw7BzVNe">pic.twitter.com/EWnw7BzVNe</a>
&#8212; Axios (@axios) <a href="https://twitter.com/axios/status/1101114801814732801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
It was, as Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44085/trump-was-right-walk-away-table-his-overall-north-ben-shapiro">called</a> it, a &#8220;pathetic moment&#8221; for the proverbial leader of the free world. Political partisans of all stripes ought to be able to agree that a regime that engages in mass Soviet Union-style gulag/concentration camp <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/north-korean-gulags-terrible-or-even-worse-nazi-camps-auschwitz-n828751">enslavement</a>, openly kills dissidents (even if those dissidents are <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/27/asia/kim-jong-nam-north-korea-killed/index.html">related</a> to the ruling family), and has something closely approximating zero formal diplomatic relations with the free world, should not be blindly &#8220;take[n]&#8230;at [its] words.&#8221;
And that is especially true when, as here, the evidence is nigh incontrovertible that the regime truly did murder Otto Warmbier. Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh opined: &#8220;Trump&#8217;s answer about Otto Warmbier was legitimately one of the most cowardly things I&#8217;ve ever seen a president say or do. There&#8217;s no excusing it. Trump lied to provide cover for a man who tortured an American to death. That moment will live forever in shame.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Trump&#8217;s answer about Otto Warmbier was legitimately one of the most cowardly things I&#8217;ve ever seen a president say or do. There&#8217;s no excusing it. Trump lied to provide cover for a man who tortured an American to death. That moment will live forever in shame.
&#8212; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1101518426206625792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Today, the parents of Otto Warmbier &#8212; who were themselves official White House guests to the 2018 State of the Union Address &#8212; spoke out. &#8220;We have been respectful during this summit process,&#8221; Fred and Cindy Warmbier said, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/warmbiers-parents-push-back-on-trump-comments-blame-kims-evil-regime-for-sons-death">reports</a> Fox News. &#8220;Now we must speak out. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuses or lavish praise can change that.&#8221;
Many conservatives were quick to support Warmbier&#8217;s parents. For instance, conservative freshman congressman Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) tweeted, &#8220;Kim&#8217;s brutal regime is responsible for this young American&#8217;s death and no amount of &#8216;taking Kim at his word&#8217; is going to change that, @realDonaldTrump.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Kim&#8217;s brutal regime is responsible for this young American&#8217;s death and no amount of &#8220;taking Kim at his word&#8221; is going to change that, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a>. <a href="https://t.co/Y9On14PyrM">pic.twitter.com/Y9On14PyrM</a>
&#8212; Chip Roy (@chiproytx) <a href="https://twitter.com/chiproytx/status/1101512731574845440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
It remains to be how seen how the President himself will respond to the righteous pushback. However, various cogs of his Administration on Friday already began to try to ameliorate what seemed to many like a serious unforced error. Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/warmbiers-parents-push-back-on-trump-comments-blame-kims-evil-regime-for-sons-death">continued</a>:
<blockquote>
White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway clarified in an interview Friday on Fox News, however, that the president agrees with the family and holds North Korea &#8220;responsible.&#8221; She said Trump was only saying there&#8217;s no indication Kim knew what happened at the time.
&#8220;Of course he holds North Korea responsible. He has deep affection and shares the grief of the Warmbier family. That will never end,&#8221; she said.
</blockquote>

Otto Warmbier’s Parents Criticize Trump For Prevaricating On Their Son’s Tragic Murder

Foreign Policy

President Donald Trump made a shocking statement Thursday morning, absolving North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of responsibility in the death of American hostage Otto Warmbier.
Warmbier was held captive in North Korea for more than a year after being accused of stealing a North Korea propaganda poster during a university trip to Pyongyang in 2016. During his captivity, the then-21-year-old Warmbier was so mistreated that he sustained permanent phsyical damage, rendering him nearly comatose, unable to walk, speak, or even breathe without medical assistance.
North Korea claims Warmbier had a serious medical emergency while in captivity, leaving him in a near-vegetative state. Warmbier&#8217;s family says he was beaten and starved to the point where his body could no longer function.
Trump <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/19/donald-trump-otto-warmbier-at-least-he-got-home-his-parents/410190001/">secured Warmbier&#8217;s release in 2017</a>. He died not long after returning to the United States.
At the time of Warmbier&#8217;s return, Trump commented that Warmbier was the victim of North Korea&#8217;s &#8220;brutal regime,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/19/donald-trump-otto-warmbier-at-least-he-got-home-his-parents/410190001/">according to a local Ohio news organization</a>, and pledged to take on North Korea over the teenager&#8217;s death. &#8220;A lot of bad things happened &#8230; It is a brutal regime and we&#8217;ll be able to handle it,&#8221; Trump said.
On Thursday, after the latest attempt on the part of the Trump administration to entreat with the North Koreans, Trump seemed to soften his words, telling reporters that he had discussed Warmbier&#8217;s death with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and that he believes Kim Jong Un had nothing to do with Warmbier&#8217;s brutal treatment at the hands of North Korean authorities.
<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/28/donald-trump-says-he-takes-kim-jong-un-his-word-otto-warmbier/3001504002/">USA Today reports</a> that Trump told media, &#8220;I don&#8217;t believe he knew about it,&#8221; Trump said of Kim. &#8220;He tells me that he didn&#8217;t know about it and I will take him at his word.&#8221;
&#8220;He knew the case very well. But he knew it later,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;And, you know, you&#8217;ve got a lot of people. Big country. Lot of people. And in those prisons and those camps, you have a lot of people. And some really bad things happened to Otto. Some really bad things.&#8221;
The comments came as a shock to Americans and to the American foreign policy community. Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley spoke out on the subject, openly disagreeing with the president, <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/432016-nikki-haley-americans-know-the-cruelty-north-korea-placed-on">according to The Hill</a>.
&#8220;Americans know the cruelty that was placed on Otto Warmbier by the North Korean regime,&#8221; Haley tweeted Thursday morning. &#8220;Our hearts are with the Warmbier family for their strength and courage. We will never forget Otto.&#8221;
Although Trump&#8217;s comments were met with immediate scorn from a bipartisan group of legislators and officials, this is not the first time that the president has referred to Warmbier&#8217;s treatment in the context of his interactions with North Korea. In fact, Trump has repeatedly said that it was Warmbier&#8217;s return and subsequent news of his condition that &#8220;inspired&#8221; the two countries to meet for the first time in Singapore.
Trump has claimed in the past that news of Warmbier&#8217;s cruel treatment and shocking death inspired Kim Jong Un, initially, to come to the bargaining table.
<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-credits-otto-warmbier-north-korea-summit-otto-did-not-n882276">In June of 2018</a>, according to NBC News, before the first summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, Trump credited Warmbier for bringing the two countries together, telling media that Warmbier &#8220;did not die in vain.&#8221;
&#8220;Otto Warmbier is a very special person and he will be for a long time in my life. His parents are good friends of mine. I think without Otto, this would not have happened,&#8221; Trump told reporters at a press conference in Singapore.
&#8220;Something happened from that day, was a terrible thing. It was brutal,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;But a lot of people started to focus on what was going on, including North Korea. I really think that Otto is someone who did not die in vain. He had a lot to do with us today.&#8221;
That summit, unlike the most recent summit, ended with a joint declaration encouraging North Korea to pursue a de-nuclearization program.

President Donald Trump Defends Kim Jong Un On Otto Warmbier’s Death

Trump Administration

On Friday, North Korea was ordered by a United States federal judge to pay the parents of American student Otto Warmbier $501 million.
North Korea is liable for &#8220;the torture, hostage taking, and extrajudicial killing of Otto Warmbier,&#8221; said U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia&#8217;s Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell&#8217;s opinion.
<a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/422780-court-orders-north-korea-to-pay-501m-to-otto-warmbiers-parents?rnd=1545680901&amp;__twitter_impression=true">According</a> to The Hill, Howell found Warmbier&#8217;s estate to be entitled to $21 million in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages, in addition to Fred and Cindy Warmbier, Otto&#8217;s parents, each being entitled to $15 million in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages.
Warmbier, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, was detained by North Korean authorities in 2016 after allegedly taking a propaganda poster off a hotel wall. He was &#8220;tried&#8221; by the secretive regime, found guilty, and sentenced to a stunning 15 years hard labor. Warmbier was likely brutally treated until the Trump administration arranged for the young American student to be brought back to the U.S. last summer. When Warmbier arrived home to his parents, he was in a comatose state and would eventually pass away at age 22.
Fred and Cindy sued the brutal North Korean regime for damages totaling nearly $1 billion in April. The Warmbier family said they were looking for &#8220;&#8216;closure&#8217; and wanted to &#8216;obtain justice for the severe injuries&#8217; they say their son and family suffered&#8221; by filing the suit, reports The Hill.
Since it&#8217;s highly unlikely North Korea would ever pay the Warmbier family, the order, much like the suit, was mostly symbolic.
&#8220;Before Otto traveled with a tour group on a five-day trip to North Korea, he was a healthy, athletic student of economics and business in his junior year at the University of Virginia, with &#8216;big dreams&#8217; and both the smarts and people skills to make him his high school class salutatorian, homecoming king, and prom king,&#8221; reads Howell&#8217;s opinion.
&#8220;He was blind, deaf, and brain dead when North Korea turned him over to U.S. government officials for his final trip home,&#8221; she continued.
&#8220;An American family, the Warmbiers, experienced North Korea&#8217;s brutality first-hand when North Korea seized their son to use as a pawn in that totalitarian state&#8217;s global shenanigans and face-off with the United States,&#8221; say court documents. &#8220;Having been compelled to keep silent during Otto&#8217;s detention in North Korea in an effort to protect his safety, Otto&#8217;s parents have since promised to &#8216;stand up&#8217; and hold North Korea accountable for its &#8216;evil&#8217; actions against their son.&#8221;
According to a GQ report from July 2017, President Donald Trump sent a plane to North Korea to bring Warmbier home without asking the regime&#8217;s permission first. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/33474/leaked-trump-sent-plane-bring-home-otto-warmbier-amanda-prestigiacomo">noted</a>, &#8220;When President Donald Trump learned of American college student and North Korean prisoner Otto Warmbier&#8217;s dire medical condition, he immediately sent a plane to land in Pyongyang and bring home the 22-year-old without asking North Korea&#8217;s permission first, says a report from GQ.&#8221;
Discussing the struggle to bring home his son under the Obama administration, Mr. Warmbier said he was &#8220;advised by the past administration to take a low profile while they worked to obtain his release. We did so without result. Earlier this year, Cindy and I decided the time for strategic patience was over. &#8230; It is my understanding that [Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Y. Yun] and his team, at the direction of the president, aggressively pursued resolution of the situation.&#8221;

Federal Court Orders North Korea To Pay Otto Warmbier’s Parents $501 Million

When President Donald Trump learned of American college student and North Korean prisoner Otto Warmbier&#8217;s dire medical condition, he immediately sent a plane to land in Pyongyang and bring home the 22-year-old without asking North Korea&#8217;s permission first, says a <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/otto-warmbier-north-korea-american-hostage-true-story">report</a> from GQ.
In early June of 2017, Trump-appointed U.S. special representative for North Korea policy Joseph Yun learned that Warmbier was unconscious. &#8220;I was completely shocked,&#8221; said Yun of learning the news. &#8220;I came back immediately, and I told Secretary Tillerson &#8230; and we determined at the time that we needed to get him and the other prisoners out as soon as possible, and I should contact Pyongyang and say I wanted to come right away.&#8221;
&#8220;When Trump learned of Otto&#8217;s condition, he doubled down on the order for Yun to rush to Pyongyang and bring Otto home,&#8221; says the report. &#8220;The North Koreans were unilaterally informed that an American plane would soon land in Pyongyang and that United States diplomats and doctors would get off.&#8221;
An anonymous State Department official said the president sounded like a &#8220;dad&#8221; when learning of the news. He was determined to retrieve Warmbier and bring him back to his parents as soon as humanly possible.
&#8220;The president was very invested in bringing Otto home,&#8221; the official told GQ. &#8220;Listening to him deliberate on this, he sounded to me a lot more like a dad.&#8221;
But, of course, there was risk involved. &#8220;We were very scared,&#8221; said the official. As noted in the report, &#8220;though the North Koreans eventually said the plane would be able to land, no one knew what kind of welcome the Americans would receive on the ground.&#8221;
&#8220;The North Koreans said we could send a delegation to see Otto, but that we would have to discuss some of the conditions of getting him out once we got there,&#8221; explained Yun.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Per this excellent GQ story on Otto Warmbier, after Trump learned of his condition he ordered an American plane to land in Pyongyang w/o asking for North Korean permission to get Otto out ASAP <a href="https://t.co/n5KRHrAvJb">https://t.co/n5KRHrAvJb</a> <a href="https://t.co/C5yuu1z1fn">pic.twitter.com/C5yuu1z1fn</a>
&#8212; Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) <a href="https://twitter.com/esaagar/status/1021756289951690753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
The team was assembled to rescue Warmbier, and the official go-ahead from State was given by Friday afternoon. When the team landed in Pyongyang, they were met with a &#8220;busload of soldiers.&#8221;
&#8220;Yun engaged in several rounds of intense negotiations with North Korean officials, trying to win Otto&#8217;s freedom,&#8221; says the report, though he was met with resistance from the North Koreans. After finally getting a chance to see Warmbier, Yun was so shocked by the young man&#8217;s poor condition that he wasn&#8217;t immediately convinced that the person he was looking at was indeed Warmbier.
Negotiations for Warmbier&#8217;s release continued into the night, per the report. In a last ditch effort, Yun told the &#8220;North Koreans we would leave with or without Otto. I felt there was no point in dragging on. I was 90 percent sure they would release him, and that this call would bring an action forcing them to do so.&#8221;
Finally, they agreed to release Warmbier. &#8220;The Americans returned to the hospital, and a North Korean judge in a black suit commuted Otto&#8217;s sentence. Then the U.S. motorcade and the ambulance raced directly to the airport, through open security gates, and onto the tarmac where the Gulfstream waited. When the plane cleared North Korean airspace, the celebration was muted. The team knew they would soon have to face the heartbreak of turning Otto over to his parents,&#8221; the report says.
The Warmbiers were reunited with their son in June of 2017. Father Fred Warmbier publicly thanked President Trump and criticized the Obama Administration for their failed strategy of &#8220;strategic patience.&#8221;
&#8220;When Otto was first taken, we were advised by the past administration to take a low profile while they worked to obtain his release,&#8221; said Mr. Warmbier, <a href="http://theweek.com/speedreads/706149/otto-warmbiers-father-praises-president-trump-bringing-son-home-from-north-korea">per</a> The Week. &#8220;We did so without result. Earlier this year, Cindy and I decided the time for strategic patience was over. &#8230; It is my understanding that [Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Y. Yun] and his team, at the direction of the president, aggressively pursued resolution of the situation.&#8221;
&#8220;I think the results speak for themselves,&#8221; he said when asked if the Obama Administration could have done more to save his son.

LEAKED: Trump Sent Plane To Bring Home Otto Warmbier Without Asking North Korea’s Permission

Barack Obama

Obama Administration

It&#8217;s been more than three months since the death of Otto Warmbier, the American student who was held in North Korea for 15 months and returned to the United States in a coma, only to die shortly thereafter.
On Tuesday, Fred and Cindy Warmbier gave their first interview since their son&#8217;s death, calling North Korean officials &#8220;terrorists&#8221; who &#8220;intentionally injured&#8221; their son.
One particularly horrifying moment was recounted by Fred Warmbier:
<blockquote>
We walked over to the plane, the engines are still humming, they had just landed. We walked up the steps. When we got half way up the steps, we heard this howling, involuntary, inhuman sound. We weren&#8217;t really certain what it was. We climbed to the top of the steps, and we looked in, and Otto was on the stretcher, across &#8212; in the plane, and he was jerking violently, making these inhuman sounds.
Cindy and Greta ran off the plane; Austin and I walked over to Otto. Otto had a shaved head, he had a feeding tube coming out of his nose, he was staring blankly into space, jerking violently; he was blind, he was deaf. As we looked at him and tried to comfort him, it looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth.
</blockquote>
The rest of the heartbreaking interview can be seen here:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EJUQJpKBYfM" width="720"></iframe></div>

Otto Warmbier’s Parents Describe Son’s Return Home: He Was ‘Jerking Violently, Making These Inhuman Sounds’

University of Delaware adjunct professor Kathy Dettwyler took to Facebook last Tuesday to voice her opinion on the tragic death of <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/17699/terrible-american-student-released-north-koreans-hank-berrien">Otto Warmbier</a>, the young American who died on Monday after being arrested by the North Korean government in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years hard labor for trying to take a state propaganda poster home as a souvenir. The young man, said Prof. Dettwyler, was just another &#8220;young, white, rich, clueless&#8221; male who ultimately &#8220;got exactly what he deserved.&#8221; Now Dettwyler is getting what a lot of outraged Americans think she deserves.
&#8220;These are the same kids who cry about their grades because they didn&#8217;t think they&#8217;d really have to read and study the material to get a good grade,&#8221; wrote the anthropology professor on Tuesday in a Facebook post edged with leftist vitriol, complete with the &#8220;college rape epidemic&#8221; narrative.
&#8220;His parents ultimately are to blame for his growing up thinking he could get away with whatever he wanted,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;Maybe in the US, where young, white, rich, clueless white males routinely get away with raping women. Not so much in North Korea. And of course, it&#8217;s Ottos&#8217; parents who will pay the price for the rest of their lives.&#8221;
USA Today&#8216;s <a href="http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/education/2017/06/23/ud-professor-says-otto-warmbier-got-what-he-deserved/424741001/">Delaware Online</a> notes that Dettwyler &#8220;made similar remarks in the comments section of an <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/448796/otto-warmbier-lefts-hate-problem">article</a> published by the National Review.&#8221;
The reaction to Dettwyler celebrating the death of the young University of Virginia student dying from a traumatic neurological injury at the hands of the dictatorial communist regime has been strong from the public, with people all over the country voicing disgust and calling for her to be fired.
The university quickly issued a statement condemning the professor&#8217;s tirade, but initially would not say if it would continue to employ her:
<blockquote>The comments of Katherine Dettwyler do not reflect the values or position of the University of Delaware. We condemn any and all messages that endorse hatred and convey insensitivity toward a tragic event such as the one that Otto Warmbier and his family suffered.
The University of Delaware values respect and civility and we are committed to global education and study abroad; therefore we find these comments particularly distressing and inconsistent with our values. Our sympathies are with the Warmbier family.</blockquote>
&#8220;When asked if any disciplinary action would be taken against Dettwyler, university spokesperson Andrea Boyle said, &#8216;We are not able to comment on the specifics of her employment. Personnel matters are confidential,'&#8221; <a href="http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/education/2017/06/23/ud-professor-says-otto-warmbier-got-what-he-deserved/424741001/">Delaware Online</a> reported.
But on Sunday, the university confirmed that <a href="http://udreview.com/anthropology-professor-under-scrutiny-for-saying-otto-warmbier-got-what-he-deserved/">Dettwyler will not be rehired</a>:
<blockquote>As of Sunday, June 25 at approximately 5 p.m., the university has announced that Kathy Dettwyler will not be rehired to teach classes at the school in upcoming semesters. Dettwyler was an adjunct faculty member in the school’s department of anthropology. Her firing comes after widespread national coverage regarding her Wednesday morning Facebook post in which she said that “Otto Warmbier got what he deserved.”</blockquote>
The sad reality is that Dettwyler&#8217;s radical and ultimately racist view of Warmbier, her &#8220;white, rich&#8221; male students in general, and their parents, is not an outlier among the academic Left, but exactly the kind of worldview presented by a large percentage of those teaching all those &#8220;clueless&#8221; minds in our universities. Dettwyler simply made the mistake of revealing her radical views too directly in a public forum. If more leftist professors were as honest as her, we&#8217;d have a lot fewer of them teaching impressionable young minds.
More from The Daily Wire on Warmbier:
<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/17912/what-left-truly-believes-otto-warmbier-deserved-joseph-curl">What The Left Truly Believes: Otto Warmbier, 22, Deserved To Die</a>
<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/17825/massive-funeral-held-otto-warmbier-american-aaron-bandler">Massive Funeral For Otto Warmbier, American Student Slain By North Korea</a>

Update On That Professor Who Said Otto Warmbier ‘Got Exactly What He Deserved’

Education

Leftism

Race

Racism

The <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2017-06-23-AS--NKorea-US%20Detainees/id-d4d7b0653ba1461caf9396ef370ba4c0">Associated Press</a> reports that on Friday, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a North Korean state propaganda outlet, released a statement claiming that &#8220;we are the biggest victim of&#8221; Otto Warmbier&#8217;s death.
The statement reads in part, per the AP:
<blockquote>
&#8220;Although we had no reason at all to show mercy to such a criminal of the enemy state, we provided him with medical treatments and care with all sincerity on humanitarian basis until his return to the U.S., considering that his health got worse,&#8221; the agency quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The spokesman said &#8220;groundless&#8221; speculation of torture and beatings could be refuted by American doctors who came to North Korea at the time of Warmbier&#8217;s repatriation and &#8220;recognized that his health indicators like pulse, temperature, respiration and the examination result of the heart and lung were all normal.&#8221; The report did not mention Warmbier&#8217;s neurological status.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
&#8220;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,&#8221; the spokesman said.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
&#8220;To make it clear, we are the biggest victim of this incident and there would be no more foolish judgment than to think we do not know how to calculate gains and losses,&#8221; he said.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
&#8220;The smear campaign against (North Korea) staged in the U.S. compels us to make firm determination that humanitarianism and benevolence for the enemy are a taboo and we should further sharpen the blade of law,&#8221; the spokesman added.
</blockquote>
As heinous as this statement is, it&#8217;s not remotely surprising. North Korea is a nation run by a despot; a nation that starves its own citizens and tortures them in concentration camps. Leader Kim Jong Un had his own uncle, Jang Song-thaek &#8212; as well as his uncle&#8217;s closest aides &#8212; executed in brutal fashion.
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/world/asia/north-korea-executions-jang-song-thaek.html">The New York Times</a> reports:
<blockquote>
Ri Ryong-ha and Jang Su-gil, were torn apart by antiaircraft machine guns, according to South Korea&#8217;s National Intelligence Service. The executioners then incinerated their bodies with flamethrowers &#8230;
</blockquote>
Jang Song-thaek &#8220;was executed at the same place and in the same way as his deputies, the South Korean intelligence agency said.&#8221;
Regarding North Korea&#8217;s concentration camps, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/06/21/defectors-from-north-korea-describe-concentration-camp-daily-life.html">Fox News</a> writes of Jun Heo, &#8220;who was just a teenager when he was sent to one of the country&#8217;s concentration camps&#8221;:
<blockquote>
Jun Heo &#8230; said to Fox News that being beaten black and blue and tortured within an inch of your life was routine. There were about 20 people stuffed into each small cell, he said. The men and women were separated, unless a woman had a baby son. Everyone over the age of 17 was forced to work hard labor in farms from 6:30 a.m. until at least 8 p.m. Cries and screams became the soundtrack of life, but it was after nightfall when the most excruciating howls could be heard, Heo said.
Hapless prisoners, trying to sleep, would wail in pain as their bony bodies broke down from starvation, while at midnight the &#8220;secret police&#8221; came to take women to be raped.
</blockquote>
Barbarism is the norm in North Korea, and Otto Warmbier was yet another victim of the regime&#8217;s savagery.
As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/20/what-happened-to-otto-warmbier-when-the-unthinkable-is-unknowable/?utm_term=.2a1f2bc8a621">The Washington Post</a> notes: &#8220;Several neurologists agreed that there is no way to know for certain what caused Warmbier&#8217;s coma &#8212; it could have been anything from an allergic reaction to a drug overdose to strangulation or some other kind of torture.&#8221;
In the end, however, the exact way in which Warmbier died doesn&#8217;t much matter. The Washington Post quotes Duke University neurology professor, Daniel Laskowitz, who sums up the circumstance succinctly:
<blockquote>
It&#8217;s almost a moot point &#8230; they took a healthy kid, put him under horrible conditions, mental and physical anguish &#8230; they left him at risk, didn&#8217;t treat him properly, didn&#8217;t tell anyone &#8212; Whatever the proximal cause was, is not even that relevant.
</blockquote>
The simple and relevant fact is that Otto Warmbier was murdered by the Kim Jong Un regime.
He was the victim; they are the perpetrators.

UM, NO: North Korea Says It’s The Biggest Victim In American Student’s Death

A funeral was held on Thursday for Otto Warmbier, the American student who was slaughtered by the heinous North Korean regime, and hordes of people turned out for it.
The memorial service took place at the Wyoming High School arts center in Wyoming, OH, which was Warmbier&#8217;s hometown, located in the Cincinnati area. An estimated 2,500 people showed up for the funeral; a number of people had to watch it in overflow rooms since the venue was designed to only hold 800 people. Another 100 people had to be turned away.
Here was the front of the program for Warmbier&#8217;s funeral:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Program for Otto Warmbier&#8217;s funeral <a href="https://twitter.com/FOX19">@fox19</a> <a href="https://t.co/0fYBd8LOpX">pic.twitter.com/0fYBd8LOpX</a>
&#8212; Jordan Vilines (@FOX19Jordan) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOX19Jordan/status/877852857592152064">June 22, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Warmbier&#8217;s parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/22/us/otto-warmbier-funeral/index.html">said</a> in a statement that the funeral would &#8220;focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person.&#8221;
&#8220;You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched &#8212; Wyoming, Ohio, and the University of Virginia to name just two &#8212; that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family,&#8221; Warmbier&#8217;s parents said.
Indeed, friends and family who spoke at the funeral described Warmbier as an intelligent, warm and kind-hearted individual. One friend, Andrew Kraner, said that Warmbier &#8220;was the nicest kid.&#8221; Cynthia Meis, Wyoming High School&#8217;s director of college counseling, said that Warmbier &#8220;was going to set the world on fire, which is why this loss is so profound.&#8221;
When the service ended, mourners lined up to watch Warmbier&#8217;s casket head toward the cemetery for burial:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
A final sendoff: Family and friends load Otto Warmbier&#8217;s casket into hearse for funeral procession. <a href="https://t.co/f8Myd0g9g6">https://t.co/f8Myd0g9g6</a> <a href="https://t.co/sJTLizLB1C">pic.twitter.com/sJTLizLB1C</a>
&#8212; ABC News (@ABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC/status/877896102250512385">June 22, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
 Sen. Robert Portman (R-OH), who attended the funeral, had this to say to the media: (<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/22/otto-warmbier-funeral-crowds-arrive-for-public-ohio-service.html">H/T:</a> Fox News)
<blockquote>
&#8220;This process has been an example of evil and love and good,&#8221; Ohio Sen. Rob Portman told reporters outside the service, Fox 19 reported. &#8220;This community and country have come together who are holding this family up in prayer.&#8221;
He added: &#8220;We have also seen evil. He should&#8217;ve never been detained. The North Koreans need to be held accountable for that. They have demonstrated that they have no respect for the rule of law and they showed a lack of respect for basic human dignity and rights. The fact that they didn&#8217;t tell his parents after he became ill is atrocious. Today is not a day to only focus on that.&#8221;
</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/17699/terrible-american-student-released-north-koreans-hank-berrien">Warmbier</a> was arrested by the North Korean regime in 2016 for allegedly stealing a North Korea propaganda poster for his church at home, a story that was clearly bogus given that <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/otto-warmbiers-family-kept-his-jewishness-under-wraps-while-north-korea-held-him-hostage/">Warmbier considered himself to be Jewish</a>. He was sentenced to 15 years of labor after giving a confession that was obviously coerced, although the tears he shed during it were likely genuine. When Warmbier was released by the North Korean regime earlier in June, he was brain-dead. Warmbier passed away on Monday.
The promising future of a young man was snuffed out by a murderous, evil regime. May his memory be a blessing. 
<a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter">Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.</a>

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