US court orders N Korea to pay $501mn over Warmbier's death

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.

Warmbier, 22, died in June 2017 shortly after he was returned to the US in a coma and showing apparent signs of torture while in custody.

He had visited North Korea with a tour group when he was arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in March 2016 on suspicion of stealing a propaganda poster.

Warmbier's parents sued North Korea in April over their son's death.

"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.

Pyongyang has blamed botulism and ingestion of a sleeping pill for Warmbier's death and dismissed torture claims.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement they had promised their son justice.

"We are thankful that the United States has a fair and open judicial system so that the world can see that the Kim regime is legally and morally responsible for Otto’s death," the Warmbiers said.

"We put ourselves and our family through the ordeal of a lawsuit and public trial because we promised Otto that we will never rest until we have justice for him," they said. "Today’s thoughtful opinion by Chief Judge Howell is a significant step on our journey."

Howell's ruling was a default judgment, a type of decision entered against a party that does not appear in court. Default judgements against foreign defendants are often difficult to collect.

The judgment is largely a symbolic victory for now since there is no mechanism to force North Korea to pay.

The ruling comes at a sensitive time in U.S.-North Korea diplomatic relations, as the two countries negotiate the dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

President Donald Trump has said Warmbier did not die in vain and his death helped initiate a process that led to a historic meeting this year between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump said in a Twitter message on Monday: "Christmas Eve briefing with my team working on North Korea – Progress being made. Looking forward to my next summit with Chairman Kim!"

He gave no other details. U.S. officials have said a second meeting between Trump and Kim is likely in the new year.

A student at the University of Virginia, Warmbier was imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months starting in January 2016. He had been visiting the country as a tourist. North Korea state media said he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel.