A federal judge on Monday awarded over $501 million in damages to the parents of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died last year after suffering a severe brain injury while detained in North Korea, in a lawsuit they had filed against the autocratic regime.

Judge Beryl A. Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that North Korea was “liable in the torture, hostage taking and extrajudicial killing of Otto Warmbier,” who was returned to the United States in June 2017 in a vegetative state and died later that month when he was removed from life support. Judge Howell wrote in her ruling that “a larger award is appropriate to punish and deter North Korea.”

It is highly unlikely that Mr. Warmbier’s parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, will see anything close to the full amount from North Korea, which has no formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The Trump administration could seek money for the Warmbiers as part of negotiations with North Korea over denuclearizing the country.

“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, referring to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, in a statement on Monday. “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.”