"I really believe something horrible happened to him, and I really don't think the top leadership knew about it," Trump said, later commenting that Kim himself told him that he didn't know Warmbier's condition.
"President Trump should not have excused Kim Jong-un for the way he and his regime treated Otto Warmbier. However, it was encouraging that President Trump discussed human rights," Enos said.
Trump expressed a willingness to meet Kim again, but said there are no further talks planned at this time.
"Even if talks are not restarted, the administration should return to its maximum pressure strategy and use sanctions authorities to press for fundamental reforms that might lead to improvements in human rights. Then it should look for ways to integrate human rights into future dialogue with North Korea," Enos explained.
The Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Tenzin Dorjee also called on Trump to "take every opportunity to raise these concerns until North Koreans are able to exercise religious freedom and other fundamental human rights freely and without fear."
North Korea has consistently been ranked the worst country for persecution of Christians by Open Doors. Christians within the atheist state have faced arrest, re-education in labor camps, or, in some cases, execution for their faith.
Underground Catholics in North Korea, in particular, face the additional challenge of maintaining faith amid persecution without the sacraments because there are no priests in North Korea.
"Put simply, freedom of religion or belief does not exist in North Korea," states the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom most recent policy update on the repressive regime.
Kim will travel back to North Korea as he came, a 2,800 mile journey by train, but this time Kim has a planned stop in Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Kim returns, however, having accomplished a historic first for a North Korean dictator – answering a question from a journalist.
Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.