President Trump said Monday he was “looking forward” to his next summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un — the same day a federal judge ordered Pyongyang to pay $501 million for the death of Otto Warmbier, who was tortured by the dictator’s thugs and later died.
“Christmas Eve briefing with my team working on North Korea – Progress being made. Looking forward to my next summit with Chairman Kim!” the commander-in-chief gushed on Twitter.
Warmbier, 22, was a US college student who died in 2017 shortly after being released from a North Korea prison.
His parents sued the rogue regime in April over their son’s death, and Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, DC, ruled that North Korea was responsible.
“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,” Howell said in her ruling.
The Warmbiers 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. Today’s thoughtful opinion by Chief Judge Howell is a significant step on our journey.”
US courts can compensate default judgment holders by ordering the seizure of funds or other assets located within the country, but that is unlikely in this case because sanctions prohibit North Korea from accessing the US financial system.
The ruling comes at a sensitive time in US-North Korea diplomatic relations, as the two countries negotiate the dismantling of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
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 labor for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel.
With Post wires