U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association in Indianapolis, April 26. AP

U.S. President Donald Trump denied Friday a news report claiming his administration promised to pay North Korea US$2 million for the release of an American prisoner in 2017.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that Pyongyang had asked a U.S. envoy to sign a pledge agreeing to the payment before it released American college student Otto Warmbier

Warmbier had been hospitalized in the North for more than a year after falling into a coma. He died shortly after he was flown back to the U.S. in June 2017.

The North demanded the money to cover medical costs, according to The Post.