By Lee Min-hyung
A United States court has ordered North Korea to pay $330 million (359 billion won) to the relatives of a South Korean pastor believed to have been tortured to death in the North in 2001.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judged on April 9 that the North should pay $300 million in punitive damages and $15 million each to Kim Dong-shik's brother and son, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Kim, who had permanent resident status in the U.S., had worked as a missionary among North Korean defectors in China before North Korean spies kidnapped him in 2000. He is presumed to have died the next year in a prison camp.
The North has denied any involvement.
"This is an important human rights decision that will be utilized in all political abduction cases going forward," said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, a lawyer representing Kim's family and a founder of Shurat HaDin, an Israel-based civil rights group.
Shurat HaDin is searching for North Korean assets for possible confiscation.
"This includes bank accounts, real property and shares in companies," Darshan-Leitner said. "When we find them, we will domesticate the judgment in the local jurisdiction and proceed to execute against the North Korean property. We intend to enforce the entire $330 million award for the family of Reverend Kim."
The lawsuit had earlier been dismissed for lack of evidence that the regime had tortured Kim to death. But an appeals court reversed the ruling in December, citing testimony from witnesses about the regime's notorious prison camps.
"The court decision marks the first time that an American court has concluded that a foreign regime which abducts an individual, who is then never heard from again, has the burden of proving that he has not been murdered," Shurat HaDin said Monday.
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| Kim Dong-shik |
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judged on April 9 that the North should pay $300 million in punitive damages and $15 million each to Kim Dong-shik's brother and son, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Kim, who had permanent resident status in the U.S., had worked as a missionary among North Korean defectors in China before North Korean spies kidnapped him in 2000. He is presumed to have died the next year in a prison camp.
The North has denied any involvement.
"This is an important human rights decision that will be utilized in all political abduction cases going forward," said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, a lawyer representing Kim's family and a founder of Shurat HaDin, an Israel-based civil rights group.
Shurat HaDin is searching for North Korean assets for possible confiscation.
"This includes bank accounts, real property and shares in companies," Darshan-Leitner said. "When we find them, we will domesticate the judgment in the local jurisdiction and proceed to execute against the North Korean property. We intend to enforce the entire $330 million award for the family of Reverend Kim."
The lawsuit had earlier been dismissed for lack of evidence that the regime had tortured Kim to death. But an appeals court reversed the ruling in December, citing testimony from witnesses about the regime's notorious prison camps.
"The court decision marks the first time that an American court has concluded that a foreign regime which abducts an individual, who is then never heard from again, has the burden of proving that he has not been murdered," Shurat HaDin said Monday.
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