Vietnam News Agency/Handout/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The parents of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old student who died after 18 months of imprisonment in North Korea, spoke out Friday against President Donald Trump’s defense of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in their son’s death.
“We have been respectful during this summit process. 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,” Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.
ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment.
The University of Virginia student had been on a tour when he was arrested for tearing down a poster.
On Thursday in Hanoi, despite having publicly supported the Warmbier family previously, Trump said he believed the dictator who runs North Korea’s ruthless regime when he said he didn’t know Warmbier was being tortured.
“I don’t believe that he would have allowed that to happen,” Trump said of Kim Jong Un. The president relayed what he said Kim had told him — that he “didn’t know about it” — and said he would “take [Kim] at his word.”
“He felt badly about it,” the president said at a post-summit news conference. He knew the case very well, but he knew it later,” Trump added.
Seeking justice for the pain and suffering of their family and son, who returned to the U.S. blind, deaf and in a coma, the Warmbiers sued the North Korean government for more than a $1 billion late last year, saying U.S. officials had publicly confirmed that North Korea tortured their 22-year-old son, who died just six days after being brought back to the U.S.
When the Warmbier’s testified in federal court in December, it was about six months after Trump’s first summit with North Korea’s Kim. The family had, at that point, established a close relationship with the president, who was adamant that Otto “did not die in vain.” About a month later, Otto’s parents Cindy and Fred attended Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address and stood, rife with grief, to a standing ovation as the president denounced North Korea’s brutal treatment of their son.
“You are powerful witnesses to a menace that threatens our world, and your strength inspires us all. Tonight, we pledge to honor Otto’s memory with American resolve,” Trump said during his speech.
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