Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday he believed President Trump’s comment that American student Otto Warmbier, who died this week after being released from 18 months in detention in North Korea, should have been brought home much sooner, represented the American people’s view.
“I believe he represents American people’s view of North Korea right now. We see a young man go over there healthy and with a minor act of mischief, come home dead, basically. There’s no way that we can look at a situation like this with any kind of understanding. This goes beyond any kind of understanding of law and order, of humanity, and responsibility towards any human being,” he said.
“So what you’re seeing I think is the American people’s frustration with a regime that provokes and provokes and provokes and basically, plays outside the rules, plays fast and loose with the truth,” he added.
Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke Wednesday at a joint press conference after meeting with senior Chinese officials at the first U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue.
Trump on Tuesday tweeted: “The U.S. once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.”
But he also told reporters it was a “total disgrace what happened to Otto” and that he should have been brought home “a long time ago,” after the 22-year-old died Monday after being released last week by North Korea in a coma.
Trump’s remarks were seen as critical of the Obama administration, prompting a spokesman for the former president to respond with a statement.
“During the course of the Obama administration, we had no higher priority than securing the release of Americans detained overseas,” Ned Price said in a statement.
“Their tireless efforts resulted in the release of at least 10 Americans from North Korean custody during the course of the Obama administration,” he said. “It is painful that Mr. Warmbier was not among them, but our efforts on his behalf never ceased, even in the waning days of the administration. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Warmbier’s family and all who had the blessing of knowing him.”
Warmbier was detained after visiting North Korea in January 2016 and allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor but was released last week in a coma. He died on Monday.
Warmbier’s father had also blasted the Obama administration for not doing more.
“The question is, do I think the past administration could have done more?” Fred Warmbier said last week. “I think the results speak for themselves.”
The defense secretary was also asked about the president’s recent tweet on China, and whether it represented frustration with China. Trump had tweeted Tuesday that he “greatly” appreciated China’s efforts to help with North Korea, but “it has not worked out.”
While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2017
CNN reported that Trump’s tweet “upended” months of work by administration officials to work with China on pressuring North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.
But Mattis said China “continues to work these issues”:
The reason that we had this dialogue today is to have an open and frank dialogue about what more can be done in areas of common interests, and I would point out to you that China’s end state on the Korean peninsula in terms of nuclear weapons is the same as ours and we continue to work towards that end state.
At the top of the joint press conference, Tillerson called on China to do more to exert “greater” pressure on China.
“We reiterated to China that they have a diplomatic responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime if they want to prevent further escalation in the region, whether it is money laundering, extorting Korean expatriates or vicious cyber activity, North Korea has engaged in a number of criminal enterprises that helps fund its weapons programs,” he said.
“We must step up our efforts to curtail these sources of revenue,” he added. “Countries around the world and in the UN Security Council are joining in this effort and we hope China will do their part as well.”
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