Judge Orders North Korea to Pay $500 Million in Death of Otto Warmbier No clear mechanism for family to collect damages in student’s death last year Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea, was taken to the country's top court in Pyongyang March 2016. PHOTO: KYODO/REUTERS 18 COMMENTS By Sadie Gurman Dec. 24, 2018 3:58 p.m. ET A federal judge on Monday ordered North Korea to pay more than $500 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died last year after suffering severe brain injuries during his 17-month imprisonment there. The order from U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington, D.C., blames Pyongyang for “the torture, hostage taking, and extrajudicial killing” of Mr. Warmbier, 22, and for the suffering of parents, Fred and Cindy, who had sought more than $1 billion in damages from North Korea. It is unclear if they will ever recoup the money, as the U.S. has no diplomatic relationship with North Korea and there is no mechanism to force its government to pay. The family could seek to recoup some money from a Justice Department-administered fund that benefits victims of state-sponsored terrorism. North Korean officials didn’t answer phone calls to the country’s United Nations mission seeking comment. Tensions between the nations remain strained as nuclear talks between them have stalled. The Trump administration relisted North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in 2017, giving the Warmbiers the grounds to sue. Their son, a University of Virginia student, was visiting that country with a tour group in 2016 when he was arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after the North Koreans alleged he defaced a political poster. They later said he sought to overthrown North Korea’s government. When he was returned home to Cincinnati in June 2017 following negotiations to gain his release, he was blind and deaf, his head was shaved and he had a feeding tube in his nose. He was also “jerking violently and howling, and was completely unresponsive to any of their efforts to comfort him,” his parents wrote in their lawsuit. The complaint also cited foot and dental injuries. After doctors concluded that Mr. Warmbier’s brain was severely damaged due to lack of blood flow and that he was beyond recovery, his parents decided to cease feeding and breathing assistance. Mr. Warmbier died six days after returning to the U.S. The lawsuit said North Korea falsely claimed Mr. Warmbier contracted botulism and then was given a sleeping pill. Judge Howell said the Warmbiers had “satisfactorily established that North Korea more likely than not barbarically tortured Otto to extract a false confession and then, after a proceeding characterized by North Korea as a ‘trial,’ used Otto’s lengthy sentence as leverage against the United States to further North Korea’s own foreign policy objectives.” Otto Warmbier's parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier cried as President Trump talked about the death of their son in January. PHOTO:XXSTRINGERXX XXXXX/REUTERS The Warmbiers called the ruling a significant step toward 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,” they wrote in a statement. “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.” Write to Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com Recommended Videos Three Boys Explain Why They Play Fortnite Every Chance They Get Laptop + Tablet = Slate, the Computer You Need Now Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper on the Future of the Democratic Party Where Amazon Reviews Really Come From Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg: How I Work Most Popular Articles Dow Falls Nearly 3%, Extending December Rout Evan Spiegel’s Imperious Style Made Snapchat a Success—Until Users Fled GE Powered the American Century—Then It Burned Out Opinion: The Phony Shutdown War The Loneliest Generation: Americans, More Than Ever, Are Aging Alone WSJ MEMBER MESSAGE Give the Gift of WSJ ACT NOW