US President Donald Trump said on Twitter on Friday that no money was paid to the DPRK for Otto Warmbier.
Otto Warmbier was arrested in North Korea in January 2016 while on a guided tour there. He was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labour.
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In February 2016, Warmbier confessed during a televised press conference to attempting to steal a poster from a restricted area of a building. When he was returned to the United States in June the following year, he was unconscious, and later died.
North Korea wanted a US official to sign an agreement vowing to pay the $2 million for Warmbier's hospital care before they allowed him to return home from Pyongyang, the Washington Post reported citing people familiar with the situation.
The report added that a US official signed the pledge as directed by Trump, however, the bill remained unpaid throughout 2017.