The parents of Otto Warmbier, an American who died after being detained in North Korea and returned in a coma, will receive $2.2 million (2.9 billion won) in North Korean funds that were frozen in a U.S. bank. It was possible to receive a portion of the $500 million (652.1 billion won) in damages owed from the North Korean regime.
According to the Voice of America (VOA) on the 15th, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York finally approved Cindy and Fred Warmbier’s request to take over ownership of $2,203,258 in North Korean funds deposited at the Bank of New York Mellon on the 23rd of last month. did. The court ordered Bank of New York Mellon to hand over the funds to Mr. and Mrs. Warmbier within 20 days from the date of the ruling.
The original owner of these funds is the Russian Far East Bank. Mr. Warmbier and his wife claimed ownership of the funds, claiming that Far East Bank was an agent and agency for North Korea’s Air Koryo, which the court acknowledged.
Far East Bank was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in May last year on charges of providing financial, material, and technical support to Air Koryo. Afterwards, Bank of New York Mellon froze funds owned by Far East Bank.
VOA explained that with this ruling, Mr. Warmbier and his wife became the first beneficiaries of the ‘Otto Warmbier North Korean Nuclear Sanctions Strengthening Act’ passed by the U.S. Congress in 2019.
This law imposes sanctions on foreign banks and institutions that assist the U.S. Treasury in illegal financial transactions with North Korea, and imposes a ‘secondary boycott’ (Secondary Boycott) on overseas periods that ‘knowingly and significantly’ provide financial services to individuals and companies designated as targets of sanctions. It includes expanded application of third-party financial sanctions.
Now that they can claim ownership not only of funds directly related to North Korea but also of funds subject to third-party financial sanctions against North Korea, Mr. Warmbier and his wife can now claim ownership of Far East Bank funds.
Previously, Otto Warmbier was detained by North Korean authorities during a trip to North Korea in December 2015 for ‘attempting to overthrow the regime’ and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. He returned to the United States in a coma in June 2017, but died six days later.
In 2018, Mr. and Mrs. Warmbier filed a lawsuit for damages against the North Korean regime in Washington DC federal court to hold them responsible for their son’s death and were awarded $500 million in damages. The couple has been tracking down North Korean assets scattered around the world to recover damages.
The couple claimed ownership of the North Korean ship Wise Ernest, which was confiscated by the U.S. government after being detained by Indonesian authorities while illegally transporting North Korean coal in 2019, and received a portion of the sale proceeds. Last January, $240,366 in North Korean Chosun Kwangsun Bank funds frozen by a New York financial institution were located and recovered.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.