Having once relied on the Warmbier family to bestow moral authority on his risky North Korea strategy, Trump has lost a crucial partnership at the worst time.
By David Nakamura David Nakamura Reporter covering the White House Email Bio Follow March 2 at 4:59 PM President Trump’s decision to make Otto Warmbier the public face of his pressure campaign on North Korea aimed to convince the American public that, beyond the existential but abstract threat of its nuclear weapons, Kim Jong Un’s brutal regime posed a more tangible danger to the United States.
Victor Cha, who served as a high-ranking Asia policy official in the George W. Bush administration, said Bush also demonized North Korea on human rights and, like Trump, met with defectors. Fred and Cindy Warmbier, Otto’s parents, initially were thrilled by Trump’s attention. Otto was detained in December 2015, accused by North Korean authorities of stealing a propaganda poster during an organized tour of the country. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a trial the family called a farce in which he was forced to confess to bogus charges.
Trump has boasted repeatedly of freeing Warmbier, including in a tweet Friday when he wrote: “Remember, I got Otto out along with three others. The previous Administration did nothing, and he was taken on their watch.” Fred and Cindy Warmbier were seated in the House chamber as guests of first lady Melania Trump as the president told their son’s story. They wept as Trump pledged to “honor Otto’s memory with American resolve.” It was one of the most emotionally resonant moments of the speech.
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