NEW YORK — A federal judge has ruled that the parents of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. student who died after being taken hostage by North Korea and released by the country in a coma in 2017, should receive about $240,000 seized from a North Korean bank account.
The amount would be a partial payment toward the more than $501 million Fred and Cindy Warmbier of Wyoming, Ohio, were awarded in 2018 by a federal judge in Washington, D.C.
The couple have claimed their son was tortured by North Korea after being convicted in 2016 of trying to steal a propaganda poster.
The 22-year-old suffered severe brain damage and died shortly after being returned.
