American student Otto Warmbier, seen here in a photo from February last year, died after coming back to the United States in a coma shortly after his release from North Korea. Korea News Service via AP Photo
American student Otto Warmbier, seen here in a photo from February last year, died after coming back to the United States in a coma shortly after his release from North Korea. Korea News Service via AP Photo
American student Otto Warmbier, seen here in a photo from February last year, died after coming back to the United States in a coma shortly after his release from North Korea. Korea News Service via AP Photo
American student Otto Warmbier, seen here in a photo from February last year, died after coming back to the United States in a coma shortly after his release from North Korea. Korea News Service via A

Asia

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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CHICAGO // The US president Donald Trump slammed the “brutal regime” in Pyongyang following the death of Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

“The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible,” the family said in a statement on Monday announcing Warmbier’s death.

Warmbier was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment US officials decried as out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Mr Trump condemned Pyongyang following news of his death.

“It’s a brutal regime,” he said during a White House event. “Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents.”

He then added with no explanation: “We’ll be able to handle it.”

In a separate written statement, Mr Trump said, “Otto’s fate deepens my Administration’s determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.”

“The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.”

Secretary of state Rex Tillerson added:”We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier’s unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained.”

The Ex-Vietnam war prisoner of war senator John McCain said that Warmbier “was murdered by the Kim Jong-Un regime”, and added that the United States “cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers”.

On Twitter, Republican Senator Marco Rubio wrote that Warmbier “should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it.”

Otto Warmbier should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it.

Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary who spent almost two years in a North Korean prison before he was released in November 2014, asked people to pray for Warmbier’s family.

“For Otto to be returned to the US in the state he was in - and then for him to die because of it - is not only an outrage, but it is a tragedy for his entire family,” Mr Bae said in a statement.

“This did not have to happen and should never happen again.”

Doctors last week said that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of “unresponsive wakefulness,” opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said on Monday that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died “at peace”.

Kim Jong-Un’s regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, and that he had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Tests carried out in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a botulism infection. Warmbier’s doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said that Warmbier’s brain injury was probably caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

Warmbier’s release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed “a clear and present danger to all.”

His death also brought attention to North Korea’s human rights record.

The Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea tied Warmbier’s fate to “millions of unknown North Koreans” who are “starved, tortured, brutalised and killed in North Korea’s political prison camps”.

Warmbier’s family said they believed the student had found peace after being flown home.

“When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable – almost anguished,” they said.

“Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed – he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that,” they added.

* Agence France-Presse

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

North Korea