Source: United States Senator for Ohio Rob Portman
June 17, 2021 | Portman Difference
In a new op-ed for the Cincinnati Enquirer, Senator Portman remembers the life of Otto Warmbier, a Cincinnati, Ohio, native who was wrongly imprisoned by the brutal North Korean regime and died as a result of the injuries he sustained while in custody. This Saturday, June 19th, is the fourth anniversary of Otto’s passing.
Portman in his op-ed discusses the responsibility of the United States to hold North Korea accountable for their crimes against Otto, its own citizens, and all others whom they have unjustly treated. To do so, Senator Portman introduced bipartisan legislation named in Otto’s honor to provide funding to counter North Korea’s repressive censorship and surveillance state, while also encouraging sanctions on those that enable this repressive information environment both in and outside of North Korea.
Excerpts of the op-ed can be found below and the full op-ed can be found here.
Four Years Later, We Must Continue to Pursue Justice for Otto Warmbier
By U.S. Senator Rob Portman
Cincinnati Enquirer
Otto Frederick Warmbier was a young man of great spirit, intellect and promise. He was the best of America, the Midwest and Cincinnati, Ohio. He died an unjust death four years ago Saturday at the hands of the brutal dictatorial regime in North Korea. We must ensure that his memory lives on and that the brutal regime responsible for his death is held accountable for this and its myriad of other human rights abuses.
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The human rights abuses detailed in the latest State Department report on North Korea include “unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government; forced disappearances by the government; torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and punishment by government authorities.
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In Otto’s memory, I will continue to do what I can to sanction North Korea’s repressive regime. This week I introduced bipartisan legislation with Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Chris Coons (D-DE) to help combat North Korea’s repressive surveillance measures and ensure the North Korean people have access to free and fair media.
We have a responsibility to hold those in power in North Korea accountable for oppressing their citizens through surveillance and censorship. To do so, our bill instructs the State Department to investigate the key individuals, groups and government entities inside and outside North Korea that are responsible for aiding this systematic oppression. It then encourages the U.S. government to impose strict sanctions on any such entities, as well as deny and revoke their travel visas to the United States, and block them from owning property on U.S. soil. This will send a strong message that North Korea will pay a price for the abusive surveillance and censorship of their own citizens.
Part of North Korea’s strategy for repressing its people is to deprive them of information a free press provides. Our bill will combat this by requiring the president to lead an interagency effort involving the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury and others to develop a comprehensive approach to dismantling the North Korean censorship regime. To support this effort, our bill will also provide the needed resources over the next five years to make needed investments in critical initiatives. These include developing new ways to get truthful information to the North Korean people, protecting those who share information on North Korea while living within its borders, and rebuilding damaged broadcast infrastructure to allow for more robust programming.
Otto’s parents, Fred and Cindy, have channeled their grief into constructive efforts to use his death to expose the human rights abuses of this North Korean dictatorship. I commend them for doing so. My hope is Congress and the Biden administration will follow their lead and continue to work in a bipartisan way to hold North Korea accountable.
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