Trump Hails Warmbier Family in Rebuke of North Korea: ‘A Menace That Threatens Our World’

President Donald Trump ended his first State of the Union by taking aim at North Korea, introducing a number of guests who had witnessed the “menace that threatens our world.”

“No regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea,” Trump said, before addressing the Hermit Kingdom’s nuclear ambitions.

“North Korea’s reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland,” he said. “We are waging a campaign of maximum pressure to prevent that from happening.”

Trump continued that “complacency and concessions only invite aggression and provocation,” before arguing that the mistakes of previous administrations “got us into this dangerous position.”

The president then explained the life and death of Otto Warmbier — the American student who was jailed in North Korea for 17 months, and died days after he was brought back to the United States — whose parents were in attendance at the SOTU, and were in tears as Trump discussed their son.

“You are powerful witnesses to a menace that threatens our world,” Trump said to Warmbier’s family, “and your strength inspires us all.”

Trump then introduced another “witness to the ominous nature of this regime,” North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho, who despite losing his leg in a train accident escaped to South Korea on crutches in 2006.

“Today he lives in Seoul, where he rescues other defectors, and broadcasts into North Korea what the regime fears the most — the truth,” Trump said.”Seong-ho’s story is a testament to the yearning of every human soul to live in freedom.”

As Seong-ho received a standing ovation, he raised his crutches in the air.

“It was that same yearning for freedom that nearly 250 years ago gave birth to a special place called America,” the president continued, moving on to the conclusion of his speech.

Watch above.

[image via screengrab]

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