Otto was a kind-hearted young man who had all the smarts & talent you could ever ask for. His life was cut short by the pariah regime in NK pic.twitter.com/asrlPpFKzA
— Rob Portman (@senrobportman) June 21, 2017
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman (R) on Wednesday ripped North Korea in a speech on the Senate floor honoring Ohio native Otto Warmbier, who died Monday after being released from North Korean custody in a coma.
Portman, who noted that Warmbier hailed from Portman’s own hometown of Wyoming, Ohio, called the 22-year-old a “promising young man” whose life was “tragically cut short” by North Korea.
“At some point after being sentenced to 16 years of hard labor, from what we know, Otto suffered a severe brain injury,” Portman told the Senate. “From what, we don’t know. And we may never know.”
{mosads}”Who did the North Korean government tell about this? No one,” Portman said. “For the next 15 months or so, they kept this a secret. They denied him access to the best medical care he deserved.”
“Because of these actions by the North Koreans, Otto is dead,” Portman said.
Portman also thanked the State Department for its work in securing Warmbier’s release and urged it to secure the release of other Americans held in the country. He finished by calling for Congress to wake up to the nature of North Korea’s government.
“Let’s ensure that this tragedy is a wake-up call about the true nature of this brutal regime.”
North Korea’s high court sentenced Warmbier, a student at the University of Virginia, to 15 years in prison with hard labor last year after he allegedly tried to steal a political poster from his hotel in Pyongyang.
“Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,” Warmbier’s parents said Monday.