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Fred Warmbier

The death of US student Otto Warmbier on June 19, six days after he returned comatose from a 17-month detention in North Korea, appears likely to mean a short-term end to the faint glimmers of Pyongyang and Washington’s attempts at exploratory dialogue.

The immediate outcome has been a rapid souring of US public opinion toward North Korea.

In a statement the same day, President Donald Trump went so far as to use the term “brutality” in denouncing the North Korean regime - a harsh tenor even for his recent remarks about Pyongyang. Previously, Trump hinted at a more understanding position on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, noting that he “assumed power at a young age” and was “a pretty smart cookie.”

The overall mood in the US was one of outrage. Prominent Republican senator John McCain declared that Warmbier had been “murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime” and said the US “cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers.”

CNN mourned the news as tragic and quoted his family as saying “we would never hear his voice again.”

In another troubling signal, even experts with closer ties to North Korea are voicing their condemnation. Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has visited North Korea several times, said he felt “saddened and angry” and demanded that North Korea “disclose what happened to Otto, fully, to the international community.”

With US public opinion toward North Korea souring, the Trump administration is likely to find itself having to present some sort of response to Pyongyang. The Washington Post predicted the administration or Congress could ban or restrict travel to North Korea by US citizens.

“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,” Trump said in a statement on June 19, hinting that he may take measures such as a travel ban.

In the House of Representatives, Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Joe Wilson previously proposed legislation to restrict travel to North Korea.

Calls for additional sanctions and pressure against Pyongyang are also expected to grow louder. The Financial Times noted that Warmbier’s death “comes at a sensitive time for US policy towards Pyongyang,” happening “two days before . . . the first meeting [on June 21] of the diplomatic and security dialogue created when Mr. Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Mar-a-Lago.” The newspaper predicted sanctions would be a priority issue at the meeting.

A South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs official called the death “a terrible development” in terms of its potential ramifications for North Korea-US relations.

“It’s not a good sign when President Trump is talking about the North Korean regime being ‘brutal’ and saying Secretary of State Rex Tillerson needs to find out who is responsible,” the official added.

North Korea could help turn things around in its relationships with the US by releasing three Americans currently under detention there - but the chances of that appear slim.

“North Korea sees the Americans’ detention as being due to real crimes,” a source said, adding there was “almost no chance of them being freed for the time being.”

The situation’s impact could depend on what the Trump administration does going ahead.

“In the case of an unintended incident like this one, the stature, role, and assessment all depend ultimately on the US’s attitude in its North Korea policy,” said Inje University professor Kim Yeon-chul.

“It‘s because of this that different policy approaches bring about completely different results,” Kim said.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent, Jung In-hwan and Kim Ji-eun, staff reporters

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