Kenneth Bae, an American who was jailed for almost two years in North Korea, told CNN he believed Warmbier could have been tortured, and cautioned other Americans against going to North Korea.
North Korea reportedly told a US official that Warmbier contracted botulism and slipped intothe coma after taking a sleeping pill - they claimed to have released the student on "humanitarian grounds".
The 22-year-old University of Virginia student came to North Korea for a short visit in late 2015 as a tourist and was arrested in January 2016 on charges that he stole a propaganda poster from a staff-only level of the Pyongyang hotel where he was staying.
His family and others blamed North Korea for his condition. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the state. KCNA said the North dealt with him according to its domestic laws and global standards.
The diplomat said Warmbier "had been provided with the necessary treatment, although North Korea had no reason at all to show mercy to such a criminal of the enemy state".
North Korea said the sentence was appropriate and called speculation that he died as a result of beating or torture "groundless".
Warmbier died days after his return to the United States, and his funeral was held Thursday in his hometown of Wyoming, Ohio. "If we could get more trips going over there, I think anything is possible", Volo said.
Korea Calls Trump a 'Psychopath'
South Korea's Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with its fighter jets aimed at deterring the North. The talks, also involving the two Koreas, China and the United States, have been stalled since 2008.
In response, North Korea accused Washington of conducting a smear campaign that "compels us to make firm determination that humanitarianism and benevolence for the enemy are a taboo and we should further sharpen the blade of law".
Just a few days after his return to the United States, Otto Warmbier passed away.
The spokesman didn't describe how Hunziker died, but claimed that the United States then "totally ignored" his death.
Rodman arrived in the isolated country on the same day Warmbier was sent home.
At the request of his family, an autopsy was not performed on Warmbier to determine an official cause of death. Rodman, who reportedly has a personal friendship with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, traveled to the communist country June 13.
The North Korean foreign ministry said that Warmbier was a "victim.of strategic patience", the policy followed by Barack Obama's White House, which sought to avoid ramping up tensions with the Communist state.
"The US should ponder over the consequences to be entailed from its reckless and rash act", he added, possibly an allusion to the three Korean-Americans now imprisoned by North Korean authorities. Three Americans remain in custody in North Korea.
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