Pompeo: 'North Korea, not Kim Jong

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has refused to say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is responsible for the 2017 death of a U.S. college student who was imprisoned by the regime.

The case of Otto Warmbier, who died shortly after returning from the North in a coma, has resurfaced in the media after President Donald Trump said following his nuclear summit with Kim last week that the North Korean leader didn't know about the student's condition until later.

Pompeo was asked by Atlanta-based Gray Television Saturday whether he, too, takes the North Korean leader at his word.

"We take very seriously the North Korean human rights violations, and we know exactly who's responsible for the death of Otto Warmbier," he said, according to a transcript released by the State Department Tuesday. "The North Korean regime is responsible for the death of Otto Warmbier."

'Spy chief may visit North Korea soon to revive nuke talks' 2019-03-06 17:16  |  Politics
Pressed on Kim's role, he answered, "The North Korean regime is responsible for the death of Otto Warmbier, end of story."

He defended the Trump administration's diplomatic engagement with the North as an effort to prevent similar tragedies.

"The previous administration took an approach of strategic patience. You can see, you can see, that that didn't work," Pompeo said. "We're trying to fix it. We're trying to correct. We're trying to get North Korea to course correct so there'll never be another suffering like the Warmbier family has gone through." (Yonhap)