North Korea has denied torturing a US student who was detained for more than a year and died days after being released in a coma.
The response, published by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), was Pyongyang’s first reaction to the death of Otto Warmbier.
The authoritarian communist regime released the 22-year-old last week for what it described as humanitarian reasons and he died on Monday in a US hospital.
The University of Virginia student had to be medically evacuated from the country after it emerged he had been in a coma since he was jailed in March 2016.
His parents have condemned the “awful tumultuous treatment” their son received at the hands of the North Koreans.
KCNA claimed said the North had dealt with Mr Warmbier according to domestic law and international standards.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour last year after he admitted trying to steal a propaganda sign from the staff-only area of a hotel he was staying at.
Following the news of Mr Warmbier’s death, US President Donald Trump said that “bad things” happened in “brutal” North Korea but at least he died at home with his parents.
He added: “Otto’s fate deepens my administration’s determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.
“The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.”
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