US court awards $2.3 billion to USS Pueblo crew held hostage by North Korea in 1968

A US court has ordered North Korea to pay for the damages caused to the crew and family of the spy ship USS Pueblo. The crew was captured by the North Korean navy and tortured for a time period of 11 months in the year 1968. In the hearing, the Washington Federal court said that the surviving members of the crew and families of those who have lost their lives deserve the ‘compensatory damages for confinement’. The amount came down to $1.15 billion and it was further doubled for punitive damages against Pyongyang. 

US court awards $2.3 billion to USS Pueblo crew 

The court said that the captured were mentally and physically abused during their captivity. Alan Balaran, the government-appointed “special master”, wrote about how damages were to be allocated. According to the reports by The Guardian, Balaran wrote that as a result of the ‘barbarity’ which was inflicted by North Koreans, almost everyone required medical intervention. He also added that many had to undergo ‘invasive’ surgeries because of the same. 

Read: US Lawmakers, Civil Society Groups Urge Biden To Support TRIPS Waiver Proposal

More than 100 crew members and their relatives filed a suit against North Korea in February 2018 as a part of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. This act allows victims to sue state sponsors of terrorism for torture, personal injury or death. According to the reports by CNN, the lead attorneys for the victims, Mark Bravin, termed the judgement a "tremendous result”. The Pueblo remains a commissioned ship in the US Navy. However, ince 2013 North Korea has used it as a tourist attraction and for a propaganda museum in Pyongyang. 

Read: US: Prez Biden Announces Partnership With Private Businesses To Spread COVID-19 Awareness

The suit was also brought up in the year 2008 by few members of the crew- William Thomas Massie, Dunnie Richard Tuck and Donald Raymond McClarren, and Rose Bucher, wife of the Pueblo's late commander, Lloyd Bucher. The court then awarded the three surviving crew members $16.75 million each. Also, Bucher's estate $12.5 million was awarded for the abuse suffered during capture.

Read: Pentagon Confident That 'target Was Hit' As US Strikes Iranian-backed Militias In Syria

Also Read: US: What Is The Equality Act?, Here's All That You Need To Know