North Korea has said it is the "biggest victim" in a staunch denial it tortured a United States student who died just days after being released by the regime.
In an article published by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Pyongyang said they treated the 22-year-old according to domestic law and global standards.
"The fact that Warmbier died suddenly in less than a week just after his return to the U.S. in his normal state of health ... is a mystery to us as well", the ministry spokesman said, according to the official KCNA news agency.
"On behalf of the entire State Department and the United States government, I extend my condolences to the Warmbier family, and offer my prayers as they enter a time of grief no parent should ever know". "Our related institutions are treating criminals who committed crimes against [our] republic strictly based on domestic law and global standards, and Warmbier was no different".
The North Koreans said that constituted a "hostile act" - and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor. More than 2,500 people attended his funeral, including family, friends and locals.
North Korea on Friday denied that Warmbier had been mistreated during his detention. South Korea said the women defected on their own, while North Korea claimed they were deceived and abducted to the South.
"My trips going up to North Korea is more like trying.to get to communicate sports-wise". And the focus on his dying "suddenly" after returning to the USA sounds like an attempt to blame his care here rather than what happened to him there.
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The North's unnamed ministry spokesman said that such accusations were part of a smear campaign to slander the country that had given "medical treatments and care with all sincerity" to a person who was "clearly a criminal".
A crowd of some 2,000 people filled a high school auditorium in Otto Warmbier's hometown of OH to celebrate his life.
The exact cause of Warmbier's death remains unclear.
Ria Westergaard Pedersen, 33, who was with Warmbier in North Korea, told the Danish broadcaster TV2 that he had been nervous when taking pictures of soldiers, and said she doubted North Korea's explanation for his arrest.
Mr Portman told reporters that North Korea must be held accountable for what happened to the 22-year-old University of Virginia student, who died on Monday. "The American doctors who came to North Korea to take Warmbier home examined him and shared their medical opinions about him with our doctors".
North Korea has been accused of of using foreign detainees to try to win diplomatic concessions.
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