North Korea news: Trump 'called for secret meetings to free Warmbier'
GETTY Donald Trump allegedly called for secret meetings with North Korean officials to release the student
Joseph Yun, the US State’s top official on North Korea travelled to Pyongyang on Monday, a day before the student was released, on a mission to demand the student's freedom. President Donald Trump reportedly told the US official to visit the student, secure his release to examine if he was "in bad shape", the Washington Post reported.
Inside North Korea: The pictures Kim Jong-un doesn't want you to see Thu, May 18, 2017 Photographer Eric Lafforgue ventured to North Korea six times. Thanks to digital memory cards, he was able to save photos that was forbidden to take inside the segregated state Play slideshow Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Medi 1 of 69 Taking pictures in the DMZ is easy, but if you come too close to the soldiers, they stop you
The North Koreans will realise there will be very negative consequences Evans Revere, a former senior official in the State Department
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson subsequently ordered Mr Yun to travel to Pyongyang but urged him to avoid discussing “diplomacy or engagement” related matters. A US Congress insider told the Washington Post that Mr Tillerson was "adamant for Yun participate in the meetings only under the precondition that the detained Americans be the focus of the agenda”.
A day after the official meeting, Mr Warmbier was freed but looked in "ill-health" as medical personal were allegedly seen carrying him from the plane. The student was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Centre immediately after he arrived in the US, amid claims he was in a coma. During the US ambassador’s visit to the secretive state, Mr Yun received the rights to visit the three other imprisoned US citizens.
Although North Korea claimed they were in “good health”, a US official said Mr Warmbier’s maltreatment could prompt President Trump to secure the release of the other prisoners. Evans Revere, a former senior official in the State Department told the newspaper: “The suspicions and the concerns about the way that Otto was treated [are] going to lead to a very determined effort by the administration to put pressure on North Korea and get these men out of there. “The North Koreans will realise there will be very negative consequences.”
GETTY Rex Tillerson authorised the secret meetings but urged the official to avoid diplomacy discussions
REUTERS Local residents welcome Otto Warmbier home