Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, secretly met with North Korea’s delegation to the United Nations in December in hopes of securing University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier’s release from captivity, according to a report.
Portman shared the details of his discussion with the North Korean delegation in a weekly meeting with constituents on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and a short interview with reporters.
“I feel like I did not succeed” in getting him home safely, Portman said, according to reports.
Like Warmbier, the Ohio senator is from the Cincinnati area. He said Wednesday the goal of the meeting with North Korea’s delegation was to open a line of communication with the country.
During the discussion, Portman said he asked for Warmbier to be released and showed the delegation photos of the 22-year-old to “let them know he was a college kid.”
“This was an innocent college kid who should have never been detained,” Portman said, according to Cleveland.com.
Portman coordinated the meeting with the State Department and asked for consular access to Warmbier.
The Ohio Republican hoped the United States or an intermediary would be able to learn of his condition, as Warmbier was last seen by the Swedish ambassador when he was in custody before his March 2016 trial in North Korea.
News of Portman’s meeting with the North Korean delegation follows comments from President Trump, who insinuated Tuesday that former President Barack Obama and his administration weren’t doing anything to free Warmbier, and that progress was only made once Trump assumed office.
“It’s a disgrace what happened to Otto. It’s a total disgrace what happened to Otto,” Trump said. “It should never, ever be allowed to happen. And frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the results would have been a lot different.”
The 22-year-old was detained by North Korea in January 2016 at the Pyongyang Airport. In March, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for committing the “hostile act” of trying to steal a political sign hanging in his Pyongyang hotel.
Warmbier spent 17 months in captivity and was released back to the United States last week.
But when he returned to Ohio, the 22-year-old student was in a vegetative state, and doctors said he suffered loss of tissue in all regions of the brain, the cause of which remains unknown. Warmbier died Monday.
Portman said the United States needs to respond following Warmbier’s death, but said that “military options are limited” because of North Korea’s access to nuclear weapons.
He did say, though, that sanctions were an option.
Portman also said it was vital for North Korea to open communications channels, particularly since the U.S. didn’t know what kind of condition Warmbier was in during his “barbaric and outrageous detention.”
Warmbier’s funeral is being held in Cincinnati on Thursday, and Portman plans to attend.
