The United States has called on North Korea to release “as soon as possible,” three Americans who are still detained by Pyongyang, following the death of the college student, Otto Warmbier.
“We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier’s unjust imprisonment,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a news briefing on Tuesday. “We want to see three other Americans who were unjustly detained brought home as soon as possible.”
Two of the detainees were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third was a Korean-American pastor accused of espionage for the South.
Warmbier was released on June 13 in a state of coma after Joseph Yun, the State Department’s special envoy on North Korea, paid a visit to Pyongyang and demanded his release.