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BFF-19
US-NKOREA-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-PRISONERS
Ex-diplomat says US signed to pay N.Korea for prisoner, should honor deal
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A former diplomat confirmed Monday
that the United States agreed to pay $2 million to North Korea to release an
American student who had fallen into a coma after alleged torture — and said
Washington should honor the commitment.
Joseph Yun, a veteran US diplomat who had flown to Pyongyang in 2017 to
bring back 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, said that North Korea presented him
with a $2 million bill for his medical expenses.
He said he called up then secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who he believed
then sought a green light directly from President Donald Trump.
Tillerson “got back to me very quickly thereafter to say, yes, go ahead and
sign,” Yun, who has since left government, told CNN.
The Washington Post first reported the payment demand, after which Trump,
describing himself as “the greatest hostage negotiator” in US history,
tweeted that nothing was paid to North Korea.
But Yun said that Trump’s decision means that the United States should pay.
“If you’ve signed, if you promised another government from the US
government that you’ll make the payment, my view certainly is that we should
go ahead and meet our commitment,” he said, adding that it was a separate
issue whether to sign in the first place.
– US says won’t pay for hostages –
The United States has been adamant that it will not pay for hostages or
prisoners, saying it does not want to create incentives to snatch Americans.
“At no time in this administration have we paid for any hostage to be
released, and we have no intention of doing so,” Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo said at a forum organized by The Hill newspaper.
Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was imprisoned after being
accused of taking down a propaganda poster in his hotel during a trip to
North Korea.
Doctors said he suffered severe brain damage while in North Korean
detention, fell into a coma and died days after arriving back in the United
States.
In December, a US judge found that North Korea tortured Warmbier and
awarded his family $501 million from North Korea — another sum that is
unlikely to ever be paid willingly.
John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, separately confirmed in an
interview with “Fox News Sunday” that North Korea had asked for money to
release Warmbier, while noting that he was not in the administration at the
time.
Asked if the United States paid, Bolton said: “Absolutely not, and I think
that’s the key point.”
Since Warmbier’s death, Trump has moved to make peace with North Korea and
has described himself as fond of its authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump set off a firestorm after a summit with Kim in February when he said
he took the North Korean leader “at his word” that he knew nothing about
Warmbier’s death.
North Korea has denied mistreatment of Warmbier and said that he contracted
botulism.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0954 hrs