President Donald Trump said the death of U.S. student Otto Warmbier, who was imprisoned in North Korea and died shortly after being released, was key to the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
"I think without Otto, this would not have happened," Trump said in response to a question from NBC News' Hallie Jackson.
"I really think Otto is someone who did not die in vain… Otto did not die in vain. He had a lot to do with us being here today," Trump said.
Warmbier was a 22-year-old American student from the University of Virginia who visited North Korea in 2016. He was imprisoned and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after security footage showed him attempting to take a banner that was hanging in his hotel.
Warmbier was returned to his parents in the U.S. in June 2017 in a comatose state and died a week later.
Trump and Kim concluded a nuclear summit Tuesday. The president pledged "security guarantees" and Kim recommitted to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."
The president also praised Warmbier and his parents. "Otto Warmbier is a very special person and he will be for a long time in my life. His parents are good friends of mine…. a special young man and, I have to say, special parents, special people," Trump said.
In April, Warmbier's parents sued North Korea over their son's death.
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