OSLO: The father of Otto Warmbier, the US student who died after being held in North Korea, said Tuesday he favored US talks with Pyongyang, a move he hoped would bring “the world’s most barbaric dictatorship...out of its hole.”
Otto Warmbier was arrested in North Korea for a petty offense and held for more than a year before he was released in a comatose state in 2017.
Warmbier, aged 22, died shortly after he was flown home unconscious. Although North Korea claimed he had contracted botulism in detention, the US has since alleged that he was tortured in custody.
US President Donald Trump is planning to hold a historic summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.
“The diplomatic track with negotiations, I support them,” Otto’s father Fred Warmbier said at the Oslo Freedom Forum, an annual gathering of human rights activists in the Norwegian capital.
“Not talking to North Korea has helped foster the world’s most threatening, barbaric dictatorship. I don’t know if talking to them is going to change them but at least it will bring them out of their hole and force them to engage.”
The diplomatic efforts have however not prevented Warmbier and his wife Cynthia from pursuing legal action against North Korea.
The couple has accused the Pyongyang regime in a US court of murder and torture of their son, who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for stealing a propaganda poster.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to force them to be answerable to what they did to my son,” Fred Warmbier said.
Dad of late N.Korea prisoner backs US talks with Pyongyang
Dad of late N.Korea prisoner backs US talks with Pyongyang
- Otto Warmbier was arrested in North Korea for a petty offense
- He was held for more than a year before he was released in a comatose state in 2017.
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
