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# 'I Take Him at His Word.' Trump Defends Kim Over Otto Warmbier's Mistreatment and Death

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MWpfV5CO.m3u8" -->
## 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)

!['I Take Him at His Word.' Trump Defends Kim Over Otto Warmbier's Mistreatment and Death](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/MWpfV5CO/poster.jpg?width=720)

_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._


---

Jul 28, 2023 3:04 AM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[Otto Warmbier's Mom Says She'll Keep Speaking Out About North Korea's Human Rights Abuses](/video/uOXWygow/)

### Otto Warmbier's Mom Says She'll Keep Speaking Out About North Korea's Human Rights Abuses

[Otto Warmbier's Parents Speak Out About Their Grief](/video/TMdu5ehk/)

### Otto Warmbier's Parents Speak Out About Their Grief

[Otto Warmbier Dies After Being Released From North Korean Imprisonment, Family Says](/video/OvqAZBkG/)

### Otto Warmbier Dies After Being Released From North Korean Imprisonment, Family Says

---


## Transcript

You have a personal relationship and I believe, Vice President Pence does with the family of Otto Warmbier. I do. I'm wondering, you've talked about this week's about Kim Jong Un being my friend. You called him on Twitter, you said you have a great reltonship, have you in Singapore or here confronted Kim Jung Un about Otto Warmbier's death? I have, I have. Asked him to take responsibility. Yeah. And what did he say to you? And why do you Call him your friend. I have and I have, and I have talked about it. And I really don't it was in his interest at all, I know [ UNKNOWN ] family very well, I think they're an incredible family.

What happened is horrible. I really believe something very bad happened to him and I don't think that the top leadership knew about it And when they had to send them home, by the way I got prisoners back, I got the hostages back, and Otto was one of the hostages, but Otto came back in a shape that was not even to be talked about. I thought it was horrible. Now, the others came back extremely healthy. Bernardo came back in a condition that was just terrible and I did speak about it and I don't believe that he would have allowed that to happen. Just wasn't to his advantage to allow that to happen.

Those prisons are rough. They're rough places. And bad things happened, but I really don't believe that he was, I don't believe he knew about it. Did he say, did he tell you that he did not, did Kim Jong- un tell you that- He felt badly about it, I did speak to him. He felt very badly and he knew the case very well, but he knew it later. And you know, you've got a lot of people, big country, lot of people. And in those prisons and those camps, you have a lot of people. And some really bad things happened to Otto, some really, really bad things. Why are you [ INAUDIBLE ]? But he tells me that he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word.

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