Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee had a busy schedule during President Yoon Suk-yeol's state visit to the U.S.
On Wednesday, she was given a private tour with her U.S. counterpart Jill Biden of the National Gallery of Art's Mark Rothko exhibits. The two also met the painter's son.
Later that day, Kim met the mother of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was imprisoned and tortured in North Korea in 2016 on a charge of subversion and died after he was released by North Korea in a vegetative state a year later.
Presidential spokesman Lee Do-hoon said the first lady told Cindy Warmbier, "The news of your son was a huge shock not only to me but to all [South] Koreans."
When Warmbier's parents sought to meet former President Moon Jae-in during a visit to Seoul in 2019, they were coolly rebuffed due to "scheduling difficulties."
Being told about the Warmbiers' support for North Korean defectors, Kim said, "The international community must join hands to inform the world about the dire human rights situation in North Korea and work to improve it."