--- description: President Donald Trump says his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would not have happened without Otto Warmbier title: President Trump Pays Tribute To Otto Warmbier After Summit image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b15cdb9acc0d47d/698932d4ab6d774ef56b2ee3/rts17ryt.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Foreign Policy](/tag/foreign-policy/) ## Foreign Policy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Trump Says the North Korea Summit Wouldn't Have Happened Without Otto Warmbier by [Laignee Barron](/author/laignee-barron/) ## Laignee Barron Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2018 9:52 AM CUT  Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea, attends a news conference in Pyongyang, North Korea on Feb. 29, 2016. Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea, attends a news conference in Pyongyang, North Korea on Feb. 29, 2016.Kyodo/Reuters by [Laignee Barron](/author/laignee-barron/) ## Laignee Barron Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2018 9:52 AM CUT President Donald Trump said his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would not have happened without [Otto Warmbier](http://time.com/4757085/otto-warmbier-north-korea/ "undefined"), the American college student who [died almost exactly one year ago](http://time.com/4816270/otto-warmbier-release-north-korea-who-is-he/ "undefined") after he was released from detention in North Korea. Speaking at a press conference after Tuesday’s summit in Singapore, Trump paid tribute to Warmbier. “Without Otto Warmbier, this summit wouldn’t have happened,” the President said. “Otto is someone who did not die in vain.” Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, was touring North Korea when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a propaganda sign. He was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor. Warmbier returned to Ohio in June 2017 in a coma after North Korea released him on “humanitarian grounds.” By then, he had spend 17 months a North Korean prison. He died six days after arriving back in the U.S. North Korean officials said Warmbier [suffered a brain injury](http://time.com/4819826/otto-warmbier-north-korea-father/ "undefined") after contacting botulism, a form of poisoning, but U.S. doctors found no evidence of the condition. “Something happened from that day,” Trump said at the press conference Tuesday. “It was a terrible thing, it was brutal, but a lot of people started to focus on what was going on — including North Korea.” North Korean officials [accused](http://time.com/4961301/otto-warmbier-north-korea-donald-trump/ "undefined") Trump of overdramatizing Warmbier’s condition in an effort to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons arsenal. But in his first face-to-face encounter with Kim, Trump was [accused](https://twitter.com/Reaproy/status/1006454023602335745 "undefined") of ignoring the pariah state’s human rights record. In April, Warmbier’s parents [filed a lawsuit](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-warmbier/parents-sue-north-korea-saying-warmbier-tortured-and-murdered-idUSKBN1HX38L "undefined") against North Korea, alleging that the government tortured and murdered their son. Ahead of Tuesday’s highly anticipated summit, Vice President Mike Pence [reportedly said](https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/09/politics/trump-north-korea-g7/index.html "undefined") Trump traveled to Singapore with Warmbier’s family “on his heart.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5309522/donald-trump-otto-warmbier-singapore-summit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5309522/donald-trump-otto-warmbier-singapore-summit/"},"headline":"President Trump Says the North Korea Summit Wouldn't Have Happened Without Otto Warmbier","datePublished":"2018-06-12T09:52:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:32:35.239Z","description":"He said the 22-year-old American college student \"did not die in vain”","url":"https://time.com/5309522/donald-trump-otto-warmbier-singapore-summit/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b15cdb9acc0d47d/698932d4ab6d774ef56b2ee3/rts17ryt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laignee Barron","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laignee-barron/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b15cdb9acc0d47d/698932d4ab6d774ef56b2ee3/rts17ryt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FILE PHOTO - Otto Warmbier attends a new conference in Pyongyang North Korea","caption":"FILE PHOTO - Otto Warmbier attends a new conference in Pyongyang North Korea","creditText":"Kyodo/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5309522/donald-trump-otto-warmbier-singapore-summit/","name":"President Trump Says the North Korea Summit Wouldn't Have Happened Without Otto Warmbier"}}]}] ```