Anchor: Criticism against Pyongyang is mounting in the U.S., as Otto Warmbier was finally returned home this week, but in a serious medical condition. The Pyongyang regime is facing an angry international backlash for its diplomacy policy of taking foreigners hostage as a negotiation card.
Alannah Hill has more.
 
Report: Anti-North Korea sentiment is rapidly escalating in the U.S., as American university student Otto Warmbier was finally freed by Pyongyang earlier this week, but in grim medical condition. Warmbier arrived in his hometown Cincinnati on Tuesday in a coma, and is now in hospital receiving medical attention.
 
The 22-year-old is said to have had no health problems before he was arrested by North Korea in January 2016 for attempting to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel.
  
In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Human Rights Watch’s Asian division, criticized the North for brutalizing Warmbier and his family.
 
 He also stressed the need to find those who are responsible and require the Kim Jong-un regime to take measures to prevent similar cases.
 
Sue Mi Terry, a former deputy intelligence officer for East Asia affairs at the White House National Security Council, told the Voice of America that Washington-Pyongyang relations will inevitably worsen and pressure on the regime will increase if Warmbier remains unconscious.
 
U.S.-based civilian think tanks, such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies, say that North Korea has made a serious mistake and criticism against it is growing in the U.S. They also urged the North to quickly return home three other U.S. citizens detained there.
 
Currently, three Korean-Americans are detained in North Korea, including Tony Kim who was visiting the North for humanitarian aid and education projects.
 
Korean-Canadian pastor Lim Hyeon-soo and six South Korean people are also being detained by the regime. 
Alannah Hill, KBS World Radio News.

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