A coroner's office in OH is investigating the death of a 22-year-old college student who died shortly after his return to the US after almost a year and a half in North Korean detention, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Spicer did, however, say the administration has been working with China to help improve America's relationship with North Korea - a reclusive nation that is developing nuclear weapons.
The United Nations has blacklisted hundreds of North Korean entities, but many of them try to get business done though China, according to USA officials.
Warmbier, an American college student who was released by North Korea in a coma last week after nearly a year and a half in captivity, died Monday, June 19, his family said.
US officials say they welcome actions by countries that have ramped up pressure on Pyongyang, including phasing out the use of North Korean laborers, and denying the landing rights and refueling privileges of North Korea's national airline Air Koryo.
The acting ambassador said the United States will do its best to free American as well as South Korean detainees in the North, referring to three United States citizens and six South Korean nationals held by Pyongyang.
"I think the first objective has to be to get the three other Americans out, and get a full explanation of what happened to Otto Warmbier", he said.
"If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will", Trump told the Financial Times in April.
The University of Virginia student was held for more than 17 months. Leading up to his first overseas trip on the job AND his first bilateral summit with his U.S counterpart, President Moon spoke with a couple of US media outlets to make his position and his policies crystal clear. The U.S. government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns.
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Pyongyang said Mr Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced previous year, claiming the student had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.
Barring Americans from stepping foot in North Korea would mark the latest USA step to isolate the furtive, nuclear-armed nation, and protect US citizens who may be allured by the prospect of traveling there.
"I believe what Kim Jong Un would want the most is to have a security guarantee for his regime", Moon said in the interview.
His comment could signal he is ready to play hardball with the Chinese, or at last send a message to China that the United States feels they are not coming to the table with a strong hand due to their continued trade with North Korea.
In a White House meeting with visiting Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, Trump criticized the way Warmbier's case was handled in the year since his arrest, appearing to assail both North Korea and his predecessor, President Barack Obama. "We have very few economic ties with North Korea so (a travel ban) is largely a symbolic act".
Warmbier's parents have not cited a specific cause of death, but pointed to "awful, torturous mistreatment" by North Korea.
Warmbier died six days after he returned home.
President Donald Trump has been counting on China to use its economic leverage with Kim Jong Un's totalitarian government as American concern grows over North Korea's acceleration toward having a nuclear-tipped missile that can strike the USA mainland. When he arrived, he was in a coma, which North Korea said was due to him contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill.
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