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Her voice cracking with emotion, the mother of college student Otto Warmbier who was sent home from North Korea in a coma and died soon after says her family will keep speaking out about the country's human rights violations to "rub their noses" in what they did and embarrass Kim Jong Un's government.

Cindy Warmbier told a U.N. symposium on human rights in North Korea Thursday: "I can't let Otto die in vain. ... We're not special, but we're Americans and we know what freedom's like, and we have to stand up for this."

Her comments came at a sensitive time, as the U.S. and North Korea are planning a historic meeting, and a day after President Donald Trump hinted at the imminent release of American prisoners held by Pyongyang.