MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The government of South Korea will do the utmost to return its citizens and the US citizens held in North Korea, Park Soo-hyun, spokesman for the presidential office said Tuesday in the wake of the US student Otto Warmbier's death.
"North Korea continues to detain our people and US citizens, but it will have to quickly return them to their families, and the [Seoul] government will do its utmost to that end," Park said as quoted by Yonhap news agency.
On June 13, Warmbier was returned to the United States from North Korea in a coma after being held in that country for more than a year. He spent 17 months in detention for anti-state actions because he attempted to steal a poster from his hotel.
US Special Representative to North Korea Joseph Yun met the three other Americans imprisoned by Pyonyang when he traveled there on June 12 to negotiate the release of Warmbier, according to the Department of State.
