According to a press release, North Korea has demanded $ 2 million for medical care for US student Otto Warmbier, who was arrested there and later died. This was reported by the Washington Post, citing unspecified sources.
At the beginning of 2016, the then 21-year-old Otto Warmbier was arrested after a group trip to North Korea and sentenced to 15 years in a show trial for "hostile actions against the state" in a show trial. He allegedly stole a poster. In June 2017, he was released from custody for "humanitarian reasons" and returned to the US. There died a few days later. He had been in a coma for 15 months.
When a special envoy and a doctor from the United States flew to North Korea to pick up hot beer from a hospital and bring them back to the US, the bill had been presented to them - as a condition for departure, the US newspaper wrote. At the direction of US President Donald Trump, the Special Envoy signed an agreement to pay the sum. Whether the money was ever paid later, but was unclear. The White House did not want to comment on a request, according to the report.
Warmbier's family accuses the leadership of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of taking hostage to Otto Warmbier, holding her as a political prisoner, and brutally abusing her. The family sued North Korea for "brutal torture and murder." A US federal court ruled that the North Korean state should pay more than $ 500 million to the family and said North Korea was responsible for Warmbier's torture, hostage-taking and killing, and injuries suffered by his family. It is unlikely that the family will ever get the money.