WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. court on Monday ordered Pyongyang to pay $501 million in damages for the torture and death of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier, who died in 2017 shortly after being released from a North Korea prison. Warmbier's parents sued North Korea in April over their son's death. Trump said in a Twitter message on Monday: "Christmas Eve briefing with my team working on North Korea – Progress being made. A student at the University of Virginia, Warmbier was imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months starting in January 2016. North Korea state media said he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel.

Source: The Star December 24, 2018 19:18 UTC