(AP Photo/John Minchillo, File).
The death of American Otto Warmbier on Monday could also fuel tensions between the two countries.
Yun went to North Korea on June 12 with a medical team to secure Warmbier's release, the official said.
Hamilton County's Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco's (LAK'-schmee sam-MAHR'-kohz) office said Tuesday that only an external examination was performed on Otto Warmbier's body, per his family's request. The Cincinnati Enquirer as well as Fox 19 report that the coroner's office will honor the family's objection to an autopsy. There will be more interviews and records reviewed.
"Hard labor in North Korea means torture", the deputy AG continued. Doctors said he returned with severe brain damage, but it wasn't clear how that occurred.
James Foley was a freelance war correspondent before he was captured and held for almost two years. "It puts us in a really precarious situation when Americans are detained there".
President Donald Trump also issued a statement offering condolences to the Warmbier family and denouncing "the brutality of the North Korean regime, as we mourn its latest victim".
Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum in Cincinnati says all who wish to join his family in a celebration of life are "cordially invited".
The funeral will be held at 9 a.m.at Wyoming High School, where Warmbier was an athlete and salutatorian of his 2013 class. We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime in North Korea.
Republican senator Rob Portman, who is from Cincinnati, said North Korea should be "universally condemned for its abhorrent behaviour".
Han Tae Song, a senior North Korean official, declined to speak about Warmbier's case, but in speaking about detainees said, "We are doing according to our national laws, and according to the global standards".
Coroner to investigate Otto Warmbier's death
President Trump offered his "deepest" condolences to the family and condemned the "brutality" of the North Korean regime Monday. Warmbier's family said the Obama White House instructed them not to talk about Warmbier so as not to "upset the North Koreans".
Trump tweeted Tuesday, "While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out".
White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday offered few details about how the U.S. plans to respond to the death of Warmbier, promising only that the United States will "continue to apply economic and political pressure" to change North Korea's behavior.
Sen. Al FrankenAl FrankenFranken: Trump might be "gullible" on China Franken: Impeaching Trump could lead to "zealot" Pence Franken accuses Trump of flip-flopping on House healthcare bill MORE (D-Minn.) said on Tuesday that President Trump might have been "gullible" to think that he could pressure China to effectively rein in North Korea.
Trump called the situation a "disgrace" and is now facing calls for the U.S. to respond to North Korea for its role in Warmbier's death.
This story has been corrected to show the coroner's last name is Sammarco, not Sammaraco.
"Considering these facts and this tragic outcome we will no longer be organizing tours for USA citizens to North Korea". A few days after arriving back in the United States, he died.
The tour operator said that it was denied any opportunity to meet with Warmbier after his detention, and that the way it was handled was "appalling".
"The media was reporting that Otto was coming home", Rosenstein said. They did not cite a specific cause of death.
The 22-year-old returned home on June 13, after serving 17 months of his prison sentence for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel room.
He was found guilty in March to 15 years hard labour.
The White House said Tuesday it is a shame American Otto Warmbier was not freed sooner by the North Koreans because he might have survived whatever ailment he was suffering from.
Comments