--- title: Trump Defends Kim Over Otto Warmbier's Death description: President Donald Trump defended Kim Jong Un when confronted Thursday about the death of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier. canonical: https://time.com/5540804/donald-trump-defends-kim-otto-warmbier/ author: Laignee Barron article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-28T09:02:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T00:44:03.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Defends Kim Over Otto Warmbier's Death og:description: "He tells me he didn't know about it and I will take him at his word." og:url: https://time.com/5540804/donald-trump-defends-kim-otto-warmbier/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7e23376c1312343/698946048fd2eedcf835de0e/gettyimages-1128022249.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: VIETNAM-US-NKOREA-DIPLOMACY-SUMMIT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Defends Kim Over Otto Warmbier's Death twitter:description: "He tells me he didn't know about it and I will take him at his word." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7e23376c1312343/698946048fd2eedcf835de0e/gettyimages-1128022249.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'I Take Him at His Word.' Trump Defends Kim Over Otto Warmbier's Mistreatment and Death > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=51dd6faa-0d96-4cbc-bdb6-308066f33ee6&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 'I Take Him at His Word.' Trump Defends Kim Over Otto Warmbier's Mistreatment and Death [Watch (HLS stream): 'I Take Him at His Word.' Trump Defends Kim Over Otto Warmbier's Mistreatment and Death](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MWpfV5CO.m3u8) (1:55)  _Published 2019-02-28. President Donald Trump defended North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un when confronted Thursday about American college student Otto Warmbier, who died days after he was repatriated from the pariah state with brain damage._ by [Laignee Barron](https://time.com/author/laignee-barron/) ## Laignee Barron Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:44 AM UTCPublished: Feb 28, 2019 9:02 AM UTC President Donald Trump defended North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un when confronted Thursday about American college student Otto Warmbier, who died days after he was repatriated from the pariah state with brain damage. by [Laignee Barron](https://time.com/author/laignee-barron/) ## Laignee Barron Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:44 AM UTCPublished: Feb 28, 2019 9:02 AM UTC President Donald Trump defended North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un when confronted Thursday about American college student [Otto Warmbier](http://time.com/4817541/otto-warmbier-north-korea-us/), who died days after he was repatriated from the pariah state with brain damage. Responding to questions in Hanoi before bringing an abrupt end to his second summit with Kim, Trump said he does not believe that the North Korean autocrat knew about Warmbier’s condition until after the fact. “He tells me he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word,” Trump said of how he could continue calling the young dictator “my friend.” Trump said he has talked to Kim about Warmbier, and that Kim “feels very badly.” “I don’t believe that he would have allowed that to happen. It just wasn’t to his advantage,” Trump added. “Those prisons are rough, rough places and bad things happen.” 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 hard labor. In June 2017, after 17 months imprisonment, Warmbier was released on “humanitarian grounds.” He arrived back in Ohio in a coma, and died six days later. North Korean officials have said Warmbier [suffered a brain injury](http://time.com/4819826/otto-warmbier-north-korea-father/) after contracting botulism, a form of poisoning, but U.S. doctors found no evidence of the condition. After Warmbier’s death, Trump vowed to press North Korea on its [abysmal human rights record](https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/north-korea). But as Trump has sought to seal the denuclearization of North Korea in talks with Kim, the issue has been relegated to the back burner. Human rights was not on the agenda at either of the summits, although in Singapore Trump briefly said the meeting [wouldn’t have happened without Warmbier](http://time.com/5309522/donald-trump-otto-warmbier-singapore-summit/). Instead, Trump and Kim appeared to have developed a close kinship. “We like each other,” Trump said when asked Thursday how he established rapport with Kim, who is almost 40 years his junior. Nikki Haley, Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, tweeted Thursday that “Americans know the cruelty that was placed on Otto Warmbier by the North Korean regime.” > [](https://twitter.com/NikkiHaley/status/1101148561197158400) Trump has shown admiration for other dictators and political strongmen. Trump has [praised](http://time.com/4589671/rodrigo-duterte-donald-trump-antidrug-campaign/) Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal extrajudicial war on drugs and was deferential to Russian president Vladimir Putin [during a summit](http://time.com/5340050/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-summit-helsinki-analysis/) last July. In November, Trump [stuck by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-donald-j-trump-standing-saudi-arabia/) amid a mounting body of evidence of that implicated him in the murder of Washington _Post_ columnist Jamal Khashoggi. ## Transcript [00:00] You have a personal relationship and I believe, Vice [00:02] President Pence does with the family of Otto Warmbier. I [00:04] do. I'm wondering, you've talked about this week's about [00:08] Kim Jong Un being my friend. You called him on Twitter, [00:11] you said you have a great reltonship, have you in [00:13] Singapore or here confronted Kim Jung Un about Otto [00:16] Warmbier's death? I have, I have. Asked him to take [00:18] responsibility. Yeah. And what did he say to you? And why [00:19] do you Call him your friend. I have and I have, and I have [00:23] talked about it. And I really don't it [00:27] was in his interest at all, I know [ UNKNOWN ] family very [00:30] well, I think they're an incredible family. What happened is [00:34] horrible. I really believe something very bad happened to [00:37] him and I don't think that the top leadership knew about [00:41] it And when they had to send them home, by the way [00:45] I got prisoners back, I got the hostages back, and [00:50] Otto was one of the hostages, but Otto came back in a [00:53] shape that was not even to be talked about. I [00:58] thought it was horrible. Now, the others came back [01:01] extremely healthy. Bernardo came back in a condition that [01:05] was just terrible and I did speak [01:09] about it and I don't believe [01:13] that he would have allowed that to happen. Just wasn't to [01:16] his advantage to allow that to happen. Those prisons are [01:19] rough. They're rough places. And bad things happened, but [01:23] I really don't believe that he was, I don't believe [01:27] he knew about it. Did he say, did he tell you that he did not, [01:30] did Kim Jong- un tell you that- He felt badly about it, I did [01:32] speak to him. He felt very badly and he knew the case very [01:35] well, but he knew it later. And you know, you've [01:39] got a lot of people, big country, lot of people. And in those [01:43] prisons and those camps, you have a lot of people. And [01:45] some really bad things happened to Otto, some really, [01:48] really bad things. Why are you [ INAUDIBLE ]? But he tells [01:51] me that he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his [01:54] word. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5540804/donald-trump-defends-kim-otto-warmbier/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5540804/donald-trump-defends-kim-otto-warmbier/"},"headline":"'I Take Him at His Word.' 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