Court Awards $400M Default Judgment Against North Korea to Victims of 1968 Attack on U.S.S. Pueblo
A U.S. court has awarded a $400 million default judgment against North Korea for the 1968 attack on the U.S.S. Pueblo. The judgment comes after North Korea failed to respond to the lawsuit filed by the victims and their families. This case highlights the challenges of seeking justice for acts of state-sponsored terrorism under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
- ▪The U.S.S. Pueblo was captured by North Korea in January 1968, resulting in one crew member's death and the rest being held hostage.
- ▪The court granted a default judgment after North Korea did not appear in court to contest the claims.
- ▪The total compensation awarded to the victims amounts to $404.55 million.
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| Original publisher | Reason Magazine |
| Canonical URL | https://reason.com/volokh/2026/05/29/court-awards-400m-default-judgment-against-north-korea-to-victims-of-1968-attack-on-uss-pueblo/ |
| Publication time | Fri, 29 May 2026 14:40:47 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-29T14:50:01.336Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-29T14:50:01.336Z |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Court Awards $400M Default Judgment Against North Korea to Victims of 1968 Attack on U.S.S. Pueblo Eugene Volokh | 5.29.2026 10:40 AM A short excerpt from the long opinion in Does v. Democratic People's Republic of N. Korea, decided yesterday by Judge Timothy Kelly (D.D.C.): In January 1968, North Korea chased down and captured the U.S.S. Pueblo in international waters, killing one of the ship's crew and taking the rest hostage. For the next eleven months, North Korea beat, starved, interrogated, and tortured the survivors to extract false confessions from them. Before the year was up, North Korea got the admission and the apology that it wanted from the United States for supposedly violating North Korean territorial waters. And the hostages, having served their purpose, were released.
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