Parents of Otto Warmbier file wrongful death lawsuit against North Korea

The parents of a college student held captive in North Korea have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the country.

Otto Warmbier, 22, was held in North Korea for 17 months after allegedly stealing a political poster while touring the country. He was medically evacuated from North Korea last June and died a few days after returning home in a coma.

Now, his parents say he was "brutally tortured and murdered" and forced to "falsely 'confess' to an act of subversion on behalf of the United States government," per the lawsuit. They are suing to hold the government of North Korea "legally accountable" for their son's death, per The Washington Post, and are seeking damages.

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North Korea alleges Warmbier died after contracting botulism and has denied nefarious involvement. But a U.S. coroner said an injury more than a year old, which starved Warmbier's brain of oxygen, caused his death. There were no clear signs of torture to Warmbier's body, the coroner said.

The suit comes amid a softening of tensions between North Korea and the U.S. Just-confirmed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend, and President Trump is narrowing down a time to meet with the North Korean leader, per CNN.

Fred Warmbier, Otto's father and one of the plaintiffs, was Vice President Mike Pence's guest at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.