President Donald Trump has called the death of American student Otto Warmbier, who was detained in North Korea for for nearly a year and a half, a "disgrace".
North Korea said he contracted botulism and fell into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.
Sentenced to hard labor for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, the 22-year-old Warmbier was medically evacuated in a coma last week after almost 18 months in captivity.
Warmbier's parents spoke out against the brutal North Korean regime, refusing to believe their story about their son suffering from a bout of food poisoning.
"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim".
Relatives say Otto Warmbier died Monday. Their statement Monday said he looked uncomfortable and anguished after returning June 13, but his countenance later changed.
Wambier's parents did not cite a specific cause of death, but cited "awful, torturous mistreatment" by North Korea.
In a White House meeting with visiting Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, Trump criticized the way Warmbier's case was handled in the year since his arrest, appearing to assail both North Korea and his predecessor, US President Barack Obama.
North Korea revealed on May 7 that Kim Hak-song had been detained on charges such as espionage and crimes against the state, making him the third American now being held and the 10th in total to be detained by North Korea's current leader, Kim Jong Un. Shortly before the president tweeted, press secretary Sean Spicer said the White House has seen "positive movement" from China and will "continue to work with them and others to put the appropriate pressure on North Korea".
"A lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents", Trump said.
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It was reported that many social media users had responded angrily to the post and demanded his arrest after his unsafe prank. He posted at Facebook the photo with the following inconclusive caption: " 1000 likes or I will drop him ".
"He was peace. He was home, and we believe he could sense that", they said.
"His family is incredible. but he should have been brought home a long time ago", Trump said.
"We know China can do this", Delury wrote, pointing to the squeeze Beijing recently put on South Korea's tourism industry over the deployment of a USA missile defense system in the country.
22-year-old Otto had been visiting the country with a tour group, and was arrested after he allegedly took a propaganda poster off of a wall, NBC reports. He was immediately charged to court and in a trial that reportedly lasted barely one hour, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and hard labour.
"Otto Warmbier should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner".
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen.
Barring Americans from stepping foot in North Korea would mark the latest USA step to isolate the furtive, nuclear-armed nation, and protect US citizens who may be allured by the prospect of travelling there.
Warmbier's death comes less than a month after two USA congressmen introduced a bill aimed at banning American tourists from visiting North Korea.
But American tourists make up only a small fraction of visitors to North Korea, whose tourism industry is dominated by visitors from China, its main economic partner. Yun learned about Warmbier's condition in a meeting a week before the release from the North Korean ambassador at the U.N.in NY.
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