North Korea on Monday was ordered by Washington Chief US District Judge Beryl Howell to pay $500 million (€438 million) to the parents of Otto Warmbier.

"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 after the verdict. Default judgments against foreign defendants are often difficult to collect.

The 22-year-old University of Virginia finance student was returned to the US after spending 17 months in a Pyongyang prison. Blind and deaf, he had unexplained scarred wounds on his feet which an expert said in court papers suggested torture by electric shock.

An Ohio coroner said the cause of death was lack of oxygen and blood to the brain.

15 years hard labor

The University of Virginia student, who had been on tour in Pyongyang, was detained and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor by North Korea's Supreme Court for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster.

The lawsuit by Fred and Cindy Warmbier accused North Korea of "hostage taking, illegal detention, torture and killing" of Warmbier. It seeked unspecified damages for personal injury. Pyongyang dismissed the claims.

Read more: Otto Warmbier's parents sue North Korea for their son's death

North Korea's history of taking US prisoners 'Crimes against the state' In 2016, US student Otto Warmbier was arrested for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster as a "trophy." He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for "crimes against the state." In June 2017, he was returned by North Korea to the US in a coma and died a week later. What happened to him in captivity is a mystery. His death prompted a ban on US citizens traveling to North Korea.

North Korea's history of taking US prisoners 'Subversion and espionage' Kim Dong Chul, a South Korea-born US citizen, was sentenced in 2015 to 10 years hard labor for "subversion and espionage" after North Korean officials said he received a USB stick containing nuclear-linked and military secrets from a South Korean source in North Korea. Chul was arrested while visiting the special economic zone of Rason. He remains imprisoned and his condition is unknown.

North Korea's history of taking US prisoners 'Trying to overthrow the regime' In 2013, North Korea sentenced US citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years hard labor for "crimes against the state." He was arrested while on a tour group in the port city of Rason. A North Korean court described Bae as a militant Christian evangelist. He was allowed to talk to the media once, and said he was forced to work eight hours a day and was in poor health. Bae was released in November 2014.

North Korea's history of taking US prisoners 'Rash behavior' and 'hostile acts' In 2013, US citizen Matthew Miller was arrested when he arrived in Pyongyang and reportedly tore up his US passport, demanding asylum in North Korea. He was later sentenced to six years of hard labor on charges of espionage. The court said Miller had a "wild ambition" to experience prison life so that he could secretly investigate North Korea's human rights situation. He was released in 2014.

North Korea's history of taking US prisoners 'Criminal involved in killing civilians' In 2013, Merrill Newman an 85-year-old Korean War US Army veteran, was detained for one month in North Korea. Arrested as he was departing, he was accused of "masterminding espionage and subversive activities." He was freed after he expressed "sincere repentance" and read a statement that said he was "guilty of a long list of indelible crimes against the DPRK government and Korean people."

North Korea's history of taking US prisoners Freed by a diplomatic gesture US journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling were captured in 2009 after briefly entering North Korea to report on refugees. After a month in confinement, they were sentenced to 12 years hard labor for "illegal entry and "hostile acts." Two months later, after former US President Bill Clinton met with former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, the two women were pardoned and freed. Author: Wesley Rahn



Symbolic victory

Judge Howell ordered the payment, and wrote: "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."

Although the judgment is a successful outcome for the Warmbiers, it is considered a symbolic victory since there is no way of forcing North Korea to pay.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country On the road The reporters from AP covered over 2,150 kilometers (1,336 miles), in a country of barely 25,000 kilometers of roads, merely 724 of those paved. They came back with only their photos as evidence of the life in the northern part of the secluded country. In the picture: A woman walks along a road southeast of Pyongyang in North Korea's North Hwanghae province.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country Cooking by the fire A North Korean man sits by a cooking fire he built to roast potatoes and chicken in the town of Samjiyon, in Ryanggang province. Possibly more than any other populated place on earth, North Korea is terra incognita, but the AP team was granted access to see North Korea and travel through places that, they were told, no foreign journalist and few foreigners had been allowed to see before.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country The revolution mountain A boulder lies on a path near the peak of Mount Paektu in North Korea's Ryanggang province. North Koreans venerate Mount Paektu for its natural beauty, but more importantly because it is considered the home of the North Korean revolution. They also consider the mountain sacred as the place of their ancestral origin.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country Leaving the capital Farmers walk in a rainstorm with their cattle near the town of Hyesan, North Korea in Ryanggang province. "To get out of Pyongyang, we weaved our way around buses, streetcars, the black sedans of party officials and fleets of colorful new taxis that have over the past few years become commonplace," says Eric Talmadge, one of the jourmalists who participated in the journey.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country Outside of Pyongyang Young North Korean schoolchildren help to fix pot holes in a rural road in North Korea's North Hamgyong province. The country's best road is the 200-kilometer stretch of highway connecting the capital to the east coast port city of Wonsan. Beyond Wonsan, potholes, cracks or sudden patches of dirt road make travel a bumpy experience.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country Once productive - now eerily quiet North Korean residents walk on along a river in the town of Kimchaek, in North Korea's North Hamgyong province. The once-productive cities along its east coast, like the coal mining town of Kilju and the nearby city of Kimchaek - built around a sprawling but now eerily quiet ironworks complex - have become a rust belt, gritty and relentlessly gray.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country Well hidden poverty The remains of lunch left on a restaurant table in the city of Wonsan, North Korea. The government "minders" accompanied the journalists throughout the entire trip. Like foreign tourists, the AP team only saw a bare trace of the deprivation residents experience. Most of the country's citizens cannot afford proper housing, let alone a visit to a restaurant.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country It's the little things The journalists' itineary was dictated by North Korea's terms. There would be no stopping to interview random people. "It's quite possible none of them had ever seen an American before," said AP's Eric Talmadge, "but our presence went unacknowledged. No glances were exchanged. No words were spoken." Here boys are playing soccer in the town of Hyesan, in the northern Ryanggang province.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country Local food, local beer North Korean men share a picnic lunch and North Korean-brewed and bottled Taedonggang beer along the road in North Korea's North Hwanghae province. This year, according to United Nations experts, the country could come closer to feeding itself than it has in decades. But hunger remains a serious problem, with a third of North Korean children stunted in growth due to poor nutrition.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country Providing food is a constant struggle A farmer carries a fully grown cabbage after harvesting it from the main crop which will be harvested early November, on the outskirts of Pyongyang. About four-fifths of North Korea's land is too rugged to farm. Providing enough food to feed the nation is a struggle for North Korea, which suffered a near cataclysmic famine in the 1990s.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country No detour allowed A man works on his car as others sit next to the Wonsan Sea in North Korea. For the most part, AP's reporters were not allowed to detour from their pre-approved route, which, to no one's surprise, did not include nuclear facilities or prison camps.

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country Never really free A group of young North Koreans enjoys a picnic on the beach in Wonsan. "Even on the loneliest of lonely highways, we would never be without a 'minder,' whose job was to monitor and supervise our activities," Talmadge explains. "We were not to take photographs of any checkpoints or military installations."

North Korea in pictures: a rare glimpse into the isolated country Without words North Korean people rest next to the railroad tracks in a town in North Korea's North Hamgyong province. "Though we would not get to know the people along the way, the country itself had a great deal to say. And it was opening up before us," Talmadge said upon his return. "We had been granted unprecedented access." Author: Dana Regev



kw/aw (AP, AFP, Reuters)

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