U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner on Wednesday called for a tough response to North Korea in the wake of , specifically saying that the regime of Kim Jong Un should be deemed a sponsor of terrorism.
“The murder of an American should lead to the immediate designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism,” the Colorado Republican said on Twitter.
The murder of an American should lead to the immediate designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
— Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner)
Gardner, , also said that there should be a ban against traveling to North Korea and that he “fully support(s) an absolute embargo on the North Korean government.”
“What happened was, in essence, murder by the North Korean regime,” Gardner told the Denver television station. “What we ought to do is use this moment right now, as we mourn the loss of Otto Warmbier … this is all the more reason now to make that designation a reality.”
Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, died Monday after spending after allegedly stealing a propaganda poster while visiting the country.
Doctors had described Warmbier’s condition as a state of “unresponsive wakefulness” and said he suffered a “severe neurological injury” of unknown cause. He arrived in Ohio on June 13 — in a coma — after being held for more than 17 months.
Donald Trump’s administration in the wake of Warmbier’s death as it decides how to properly respond. Three other U.S. citizens are still being held by Kim Jong Un’s regime.
Gardner is the chairman of a Senate subcommittee on East Asia. Last month that, in part, was to address North Korea, meeting with U.S. military leaders in the area, senior officials in South Korea’s newly elected government and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
a “whack job.”
In May, , on Gardner that said: “For a psychopath like the [expletive] Gardner, to hurl evil accusations at our highest dignity, is a serious provocation. That a man mixed in with human dirt like Gardner, who has lost basic judgment and body hair, could only spell misfortune for the United States.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.