News of his condition sparked a frantic effort led by Joseph Yun, the State Department’s point man on North Korea at the time, to get Warmbier home. Warmbier’s brain damage and then death at North Korea’s hands caused widespread shock in the United States, but the news that North Korea expected the government to pay for his care has caused further backlash. North Korea has insisted Warmbier became sick after eating pork and spinach, but has also said that he had a severe allergic reaction to the sedatives they gave him. Fred and Cindy Warmbier sued North Korea over their son’s death and in December were awarded $501 million dollars in damages – money that the Kim regime will never pay. North Korea has taken Americans as hostages before, and this is not the first time Pyongyang has threatened huge hospital bills for American citizens it had detained.

Source: National Post April 25, 2019 18:22 UTC