Otto Warmbier’s Parents Hope For ‘Something Positive’ From Trump-Kim Summit
American student Otto Warmbier was imprisoned in North Korea for over a year. Image by youtube
Otto Warmbier’s parents said they hope “something positive” will come out of President Trump’s summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Fred and Cindy Warmbier said they appreciated Trump’s statement that their son did not die in vain.
“We are proud of Otto and miss him,” the parents, who are Jewish, said in a brief statement. “Hopefully something positive can come from this.”
After meeting Kim, Trump called Warmbier’s death a key impetus for the summit, although he did not elaborate. He also did not explain how or if the warming ties might affect North Korea’s status as one of the most repressive regimes in the world.
Warmbier, from Wyoming, Ohio, and a student at the University of Virginia, died at the age of 22 days after he was returned to the United States in a coma.
He had been imprisoned in North Korea from January 2016 after being sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel, North Korea state media said.
U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said on Tuesday that Otto Warmbier’s death “is a constant reminder to me about the evil nature of this regime.”
“Following this historic summit, I remain skeptical but hopeful that this new dialog can translate into meaningful progress,” Portman said.—Reuters
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
