Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke for the first time publicly on Tuesday about the release of a University of Virginia student, Otto Warmbier, from North Korea.
Tillerson was testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday morning, shortly after the news broke of Warmbier's release. Tillerson was visiting Capitol Hill to talk about the State Department's budget request for the coming fiscal year.
Committee chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) asked Tillerson if he would like to make any statement regarding Warmbier's release before giving his opening statement. Tillerson read the statement issued by the State Department.
"Well, some of you may have seen a press release that was put out just before I arrived announcing that, 'At the president's direction, the Department of State has secured the release of Otto Warmbier from North Korea,'" Tillerson said. "'He is on his way, en route home to be reunited with his family. We continue our discussions with the North Korean regime regarding the release of the three other American citizens that have been detained.'"
"'We have no comment on Mr. Warmbier's condition out of respect to him and the family,' and that is the statement that was released," Tillerson concluded.
Warmbier is said to be in a coma, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. Warmbier's family was told that he contracted botulism after his trial in March, 2016, and "was given a sleeping pill, from which he never woke up."
Warmbier was arrested and charged with "hostile acts against the state" for attempting to steal a propaganda poster on his last night in North Korea on New Year's Eve. The UVA student was on his way to a study abroad trip in Hong Kong.