Court Orders North Korea to Pay $501 Million to Warmbier Family
I would love to see the Moon administration’s reaction if the US government made paying compensation to North Korea’s victims part of any deal to lift sanctions. I say this because the Moon administration has continued to go after the Japanese for compensation for events that happened over 75 years ago even though they have already paid compensation while Otto Warmbier’s death happened just last year and the Kim regime continues to make excuses for what happened:
A U.S. court on Monday ordered Pyongyang to pay $501 million in damages for the torture and death of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier, who died in 2017 shortly after being released from a North Korea prison.
Reuters
Warmbier’s parents sued North Korea in April over their son’s death. The 22-year-old student died days after he was returned to the United States in a coma, and an Ohio coroner said the cause of death was lack of oxygen and blood to the brain.
“North Korea is liable for the torture, hostage taking, and extrajudicial killing of Otto Warmbier, and the injuries to his mother and father, Fred and Cindy Warmbier,” Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in her ruling.
You can read more at the link.
Maybe Moon Pie will pick up the tab for his good buddy, Kimmy!
I question the decision making ability of this family. I understand their child made poor choices and was essentially tortured to death for it. But the lawyers for this lawsuit were not pro bono and these folks must know they will never get a reply much less money from Kim Fatty the Third or the Norks.
@2ID DOC, it was a bad choice to go to North Korea which is something I have consistently advocated for people not to do. However, getting jailed and tortured and ultimately a death sentence for taking a poster off of a hotel wall is ridiculous and something the Kim regime should be held accountable for.
I am sure the Warmbier family realizes that they will likely not see any money. However, this ruling will make it inconvenient for the Kim regime to use the US financial system if sanctions are dropped in the future because their assets could be seized to pay the compensation.
The $501M is a symbolic gesture that I think had to done, as the crime committed and the punishment meted out to this young man were wildly out of balance.