'Parents of Otto Warmbier, Who Died After North Korean Detention, Awarded 26 Billion Won... U.S. Court Orders Payment'

Warmbier Family Wins Lawsuit Over Frozen North Korea Assets

Assets Linked to North Korean Supporter: Pakistani A.Q. Khan Network

A U.S. court has ordered that approximately 26 billion won in frozen North Korea-related assets be paid to the parents of Otto Warmbier, the American who died after being released from North Korean detention in a coma and repatriated to the United States.

Wormbier being dragged into a North Korean court in March 2016. Photo by AP News Agency

According to the ruling obtained by Yonhap News on June 16 (local time), Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered on June 11 that 17,131,065.73 U.S. dollars (about 26 billion won) frozen at JPMorgan Chase Bank be paid to Warmbier's parents.

The assets in question are funds connected to the network of Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr. A.Q. Khan, known as the biggest external supporter of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Warmbier's parents petitioned the court for the assets, arguing they are North Korea-related property and should be paid to them, and the court accepted their claim.

In her ruling, Judge Howell determined that the A.Q. Khan network acted as an "agent or instrumentality" of North Korea. She also found that the plaintiffs had proven the A.Q. Khan network was the actual sender of the frozen funds.

Otto Warmbier was a 21-year-old American college student in 2016 when he visited North Korea for tourism and was arrested on charges of stealing propaganda materials. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. After being detained for about 17 months, Warmbier was repatriated to the U.S. in June 2017 in a coma and died six days after his return.

In 2018, Warmbier's parents filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court against the North Korean regime, seeking damages for their son's death. The court found North Korea liable and ordered damages of 500 million dollars.

Since then, the family has been tracking North Korea-related assets worldwide to enforce the judgment. The latest frozen assets at JPMorgan Chase Bank were recognized as eligible for payment through this process.

Previously, the family was also granted rights to a portion of the proceeds from the sale of a North Korean vessel seized by the U.S. government for violating United Nations sanctions, as well as rights to 240,000 U.S. dollars in North Korea-related assets frozen by New York State authorities.

In 2023, the family was granted rights to approximately 2.2 million U.S. dollars in North Korea-related assets held at the Bank of New York Mellon. The original owner of the funds was Far Eastern Bank of Russia. The family argued that this bank acted as an agent or instrumentality for Air Koryo, North Korea's state-owned airline, and claimed rights to the funds. The court accepted the family's argument and recognized their rights to the assets, determining that Far Eastern Bank was indeed an agent or instrumentality of Air Koryo.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.