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- By VOA News
Trump: Kim Felt ‘Very Badly About’ US College Student’s Fatal Treatment
U.S. President Donald Trump says he does not believe North Korean leader Kim Jong Un knew about the brutal mistreatment suffered by the late American Otto Warmbier during his imprisonment in the isolated regime.
The 22-year-old University of Virginia student was visiting North Korea with a tour group when he was arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March 2016 on suspicion of stealing a propaganda poster. He died the next June after he was returned to the United States in a coma.
During a question and answer session with reporters in Hanoi Thursday, President Trump was asked if he had confronted Kim about Warmbier’s death in 2017. Trump said he really “believed something bad happened to” Warmbier, but said he doesn’t think “the top leadership knew about it.”
“I don’t believe that he would have allowed that to happen,” the U.S. president said, referring to Kim Jong Un. “Just wasn’t to his advantage to have allowed that to happen. Those prisons are rough — they’re rough places, and bad things happen.”
Trump said Kim told him he felt “very badly about it.”
A U.S. federal court judge last November ordered Pyongyang to pay more than $500 million to Otto Warmbier’s family. His parents filed a lawsuit against the reclusive regime, claiming their son had been intentionally beaten. It is unlikely North Korea will pay the judgment since there is no mechanism to force it to do so.
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Student dilemma: Financial aid applications can expose undocumented parents
Many students in the U.S. rely on financial aid to attend colleges and universities, but as Julia Barajas reports in LAist.com, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid could cause a dilemma for students with an undocumented parent.
If students fill out the application, they will share their parents’ financial information – and potentially raise questions about their immigration status -- with the federal government. If they don’t fill out the application, they won’t get federal financial aid. (December 2024)
FDA: College students using ‘honey packets’ to enhance sex put themselves at risk
With TikTok videos promoting “honey packets,” the supplements marketed as sexual enhancements have become popular on college campuses.
But as Charles Trepany reports in USA Today, the Food and Drug Administration has warned that ingredients in the supplements could be potentially dangerous. (November 2024)
Some universities encourage Chinese students to return before inauguration
Some colleges and universities are encouraging international students to return to the United States – or stay in the country over winter break – to make sure any White House travel restrictions don’t impede their return, the South China Morning Post reports.
Chinese students in the United States have expressed concerns about being allowed back in the country after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20. Trump has promised sweeping immigration reforms and mass deportations. (December 2024)
Seven charged in social media drug ring at Rutgers University
An undercover narcotics investigation at Rutgers University in New Jersey led to the arrest of seven people, NBC News reported.
Investigators say they found large amounts of marijuana, LSD, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, Adderall and Xanax. The drugs were offered on a menu circulated on a private social network of individuals affiliated with school, authorities said. (December 2024)
- By VOA News
Mentors can be valuable aid for international students
Mentors can be a key asset for college and university students, particularly when the student comes from a foreign country.
This article from U.S. News & World Report explains why. (November 2024)
