Otto Warmbier's parents push back on Trump's 'lavish praise' of Kim Jong-un

The parents of an American college student who died following months of detention in North Korea rebuked President Donald Trump on Friday, saying Kim Jong-un "and his evil regime" are responsible for their son's death.

Trump said this week that he takes Kim "at his word" that the North Korean leader was unaware of alleged mistreatment of Otto Warmbier.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier pushed back in a statement Friday, saying they had remained silent earlier this week while Trump and Kim met in Vietnam. "Now we must speak out," they said.

"Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity," they said. "No excuses or lavish praise can change that."

The 22-year-old University of Virginia student died in June 2017, after being returned home in a vegetative state. His parents have said he was tortured. The suburban Cincinnati youth was visiting North Korea with a tour group when he was detained in 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster.

North Korea has denied mistreating Warmbier, whose cause of death has never been conclusively established.

'I will take him at his word'

During a news conference Thursday after a two-day summit with Kim in Vietnam, Trump was asked if he and Kim had discussed Warmbier, and whether he had asked the North Korean leader to take responsibility for what happened to him.

Trump said "something very bad happened" to Warmbier, but added that he didn't believe Kim knew about it or would have allowed it to happen.

"He tells me that he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word," Trump said.

Some lawmakers from both parties have criticized the president's comments.

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, who said she had just spoken to Trump about the issue, sought to make a distinction in an interview with Fox News on Friday.

"The president agrees with the Warmbier family and holds North Korea responsible for Otto Warmbier's death," Conway said. "The president was talking about that Chairman Kim did not know what happened to Otto at the time when it happened." 

Trump on Thursday emphasized that he helped repatriate Warmbier to the U.S., as well as other Americans who had been detained in North Korea.

Trump has praised and offered condolences to the Warmbiers on more than one occasion, including when they were invited to his state of the union address in January 2018.

The Warmbiers thanked Trump for his remarks about their son after the first summit between Kim and the U.S. president in June 2018 in Singapore. Trump had said Warmbier's fate was instrumental in spurring the two leaders to meet in person.