The death a year ago of Ohio's Otto Warmbier was the impetus for the extraordinary nuclear summit with Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.
After the summit in Singapore, Trump defended his repeated praise of Kim despite his distressing record on human rights. But Trump said without Warmbier's ordeal in North Korea, the meeting may not have happened: "Otto did not die in vain."
Warmbier, 22, died June 19 six days after returning from North Korea, where he had been held as a prisoner of the state for 15 months. Warmbier was in desperate physical condition when he came home to Cincinnati a year ago in a state that doctors at the University of Cincinnati called "unresponsive wakefulness."
The Kim government said it released Warmbier as a humanitarian gesture because he had fallen ill from botulism poisoning and a sleeping pill. Warmbier's parents, Fred and Cindy, have sued North Korea accusing the regime of torturing their son to death.
Later Tuesday, the Warmbiers issued a statement through their lawyers on the summit: "We appreciate President Trump's recent comments about our family. We are proud of Otto and miss him. Hopefully something positive can come from this.”
Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio served as a liaison for the family with the U.S. government during Warmbier’s detention in North Korea. He said he hopes the summit leads to “a peaceful solution that includes North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons.”
But Portman noted that he was with the Warmbiers when Otto’s return flight landed June 13 at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, “and it’s a constant reminder to me about the evil nature of this regime.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who ran against Trump in 2016 for the Republican presidential nomination, expressed skepticism about the summit and also mentioned Warmbier. “Promises from North Korea don’t matter; we should not back off our economic and political pressure until there is a verifiable agreement and implementation has begun.”
“We should also not forget Otto Warmbier, a victim of North Korean cruelty, and insist that human rights be a central part of any future discussions or negotiations."
Since Warmbier's death, rhetoric between the United States and North Korea grew more heated, especially as the Kim government tested its nuclear capability. But this year, the relations moved from what seemed like a dead stop to the pinnacle of diplomacy, a leadership summit.
After the meeting with Kim in Singapore, Trump said the issue of human rights in North Korea did come up during the talks, but briefly. The president also said he believes Kim wants to do the right thing.
Trump called Kim "very talented," noting his rise to power to become the third generation of his family to rule the nation often called the hermit kingdom. In the preparations for the summit, the president did not mention the suspicions about Kim ordering the assassination of his half-brother or having his uncle put before a firing squad.
Warmbier's death under mysterious circumstances devastated his family and riveted Greater Cincinnati. The 2013 Wyoming High graduate had to be carried off the plane when he arrived, and the UC doctors who examined him said he had suffered a brain injury that had only progressed.
They said they could not substantiate the North Korean explanation of botulism poisoning, but they said Warmbier's brain had been damaged. Botulism poisoning can cause paralysis to the lungs, which can starve the brain of oxygen.
Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence said he had talked to Fred Warmbier to relay the same message from Trump, Fox News reported. “Today I assured his dad, as the president said two days ago, their beloved son, Otto Warmbier, will not have died in vain.”
The Warmbiers were guests of the president at the State of the Union address in January. A month later, Pence and Fred Warmbier met with North Korean defectors in South Korea ahead of the Olympic Games to keep international pressure on North Korea.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.