Asia/Pacific

Otto Warmbier’s mother: North Korea ‘is a cancer on the earth’ which will ‘kill all of us’ if we ignore it

Cindy Warmbier, the mother of Otto Warmbier, the American student who was detained in North Korea before his death, called the country a “cancer” on Friday. 

“North Korea, to me, is a cancer on the Earth,” Warmbier said while speaking at a Hudson Institute event. 

{mosads}”If we ignore this cancer, it’s not going to go away, it’s going to kill all of us,” she added. 

Warmbier also said the only way the nation will ever change is if the U.S. keeps up its pressure on Pyongyang, comparing North Korean prison camps to “concentration camps.”

“The only difference between Hitler and [North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un] is that he’s doing it to all of his people,” she said. 

Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea after being accused of stealing a propaganda poster while on a tourist trip. He entered a coma while in detention and died at the age of 22 after being returned to the U.S.