KEY POINTS
  • President Donald Trump approved payment of a $2 million bill issued by North Korea for the care of American citizen Otto Warmbier, who returned to the U.S. in a coma, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
  • The bill remained unpaid throughout 2017, The Post reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter as saying.
  • On Friday, Trump himself tweeted that "no money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier."

President Donald Trump approved payment of a $2 million bill issued by North Korea for the care of American citizen Otto Warmbier, who returned to the U.S. in a coma days before he died, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

North Korea had insisted on a U.S. pledge to pay the hospital bill before Warmbier was allowed to fly out of Pyongyang in June 2017, according to The Post.