Royce calls for ban on tourist travel to NK after Warmbier's death

Wambier's parents did not cite a specific cause of death but blamed "awful, torturous mistreatment" by North Korea. Warmbier, an American college student who was released by North Korea in a com.

The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not available for comment on Monday.

He also tweeted that "the USA once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim".

Trump said "it's a total disgrace what happened to Otto. But I would do that".

"For Otto to be returned to the USA in the state he was in - and then for him to die because of it - is not only an outrage, but it is a tragedy for his entire family", Bae said in a statement. "As soon as they found out that Otto was in a coma, they demanded the North Koreans take Otto out and send him back to the U.S. They sent an airplane". It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States "to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater". The U.S.is pressing Pyongyang to halt its nuclear weapons development and urging China and other countries to starve the North of funding for the program.

Meanwhile, North Korea had made a case in its own defense claiming Otto had contracted botulism and had fallen into a coma immediately after he was sentenced.

"It really is a tragedy".

Warmbier had planned to study in China in his third year of college and heard about Chinese travel companies offering trips to North Korea. "If there are any US preconditions for the talks, the No. 1 priority has to be the release of the three other prisoners".

Some outside experts see an internal divide in North Korea between officials who believe solving the long standoff with Seoul and Washington is the best way to improve the country's economy and global standing, and hard-liners who believe that outside pressure, isolation and animosity help keep the ruling Kim family in power by solidifying domestic support.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Warmbier's death after his lengthy detention in North Korea was a "total disgrace" and that if the college student had been returned home to the US earlier, "I think the result would have been a lot different".

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been unable to pursue the engagement with the North he favors because of a string of North Korean missile tests. In March that year, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for committing what Pyongyang called a hostile act against the state. He has sought out the help of the South Korean and American governments but to no avail. His family said that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace". And I spoke with his family. "I've been dealing with them for years, and I've never seen it so bad".

Three other US citizens, including Kim, are still being held in North Korea. The US will "continue to work with them and others to put the appropriate pressure on North Korea to change the behavior of this regime", Spicer said.

Uri Tours, which is based in New Jersey, said on its website it was "reviewing its position on DPRK travel for American citizens".

But President Trump's souring views on China's influence with North Korea could affect economic policy, including a pending decision on whether to impose new restrictions on steel imports, which could spark a trade war with China.

BST: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the US is considering imposing a travel ban to North Korea. "We had held onto hope that he might recover, and have the life that he should have had, but now those hopes are gone, and we too are reeling with the shock of a young man's life taken well before his time".

"What followed was a disgrace, which we categorically condemn - from the paucity of information provided during his detention, and the worrying lack of consular visits, to the distressing and horrifying condition in which he was returned to his family".