"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", a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement released Friday.
The response, published by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), was Pyongyang's first reaction to the death of Otto Warmbier.
But his scorn for the reclusive nation has seemingly grown in the days since Otto Warmbier, a young American man who was imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months and reportedly tortured, was returned to the US last week in a coma. Instead, they said it appeared he had suffered severe neurological damage, possibly as a result of cardiopulmonary arrest.
The North's foreign ministry spokesman put the blame for Warmbier's death on the previous United States administration of Barack Obama which it said had "not even once" made an official request for his release. "The North Koreans need to be held to account for that".
Warmbier was returned to America in a coma before dying a few days after.
How may relations between the USA and North Korea be affected?
"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", the spokesman said.
The spokesman also said Mr. Warmbier was "a victim of the policy of strategic patience", referring to President Barack Obama's policy of focusing on sanctions and applying pressure on the North.
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North Korea convicted Warmbier last year of stealing a political banner and was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor. It seems President Trump may have had enough. Only under the current administration of Donald Trump, North Korea received several such requests and agreed to send the student back home "in consideration of his bad health", the statement said.
The spokesman said Warmbier was provided proper medical treatment during his stay. "Some good things came out of this trip".
Last week, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert denied that Rodman had anything to do with Warmbier's release, and when asked about his visit said, "We strongly, strongly suggest Americans not travel to North Korea".
I know being there had something to do with it.
Warmbier, 22, died in a United States hospital after North Korea released him for "humanitarian reasons".
Rodman's agent, Chris Volo, says his client personally lobbied the Pyongyang government for Warmbier's return home. South Korea said the women defected on their own, while North Korea claimed they were deceived and abducted.
He blasted South Korea, accusing it of seeking to exploit Warmbier's death to press its own demand for the release of six South Korean detainees.
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