Ohio senator lobbied North Korea for Otto Warmbier’s release

Sen. Rob Portman met with North Korean officials in New York last year in an effort to secure the release of Otto Warmbier, the American college student detained in North Korea for 17 months, the Ohio Republican said Wednesday.

Portman told reporters that he pushed for the Ohio native’s release during a meeting with the North Korea’s delegation to the United Nations in December. North Korean officials reportedly told him they would “take it [his request] back.”

The GOP senator also said he urged the North Korean government to allow Warmbier to meet with Sweden’s ambassador to North Korea, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang is the main channel for communications between the United States and North Korea.

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Warmbier had met with the Swedish ambassador before his March 2016 trial for stealing a propaganda poster from a hotel in Pyongyang. But the ambassador was not permitted to meet with the American after that.

Warmbier, 22, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after he confessed to stealing the poster in a one-hour trial.

He returned to the U.S. in a coma last week after 17 months in detention and died on Monday.

Portman is expected to attend Warmbier’s memorial service Thursday, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

– Nathaniel Weixel contributed