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German court to rule on Berlin hostel at North Korea embassy German court rules against Berlin hostel at NKorea embassy
(about 7 hours later)
BERLIN — A German court is expected to rule Tuesday on whether a hostel on the grounds of the North Korean embassy in Berlin violates international sanctions against the East Asian nation. BERLIN — A German court on Tuesday dismissed a legal bid to prevent the closure of a hostel located on the grounds of the North Korean embassy in Berlin that was said to have been a significant source of foreign income for the East Asian country.
Authorities in the German capital ordered the City Hostel Berlin shut down, a decision the operators have gone to court to overturn. The ruling by a Berlin regional court was welcomed by lawyers for the family of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American student who died shortly after being returned by North Korea to the U.S. in a vegetative state in 2017. His parents say their son was tortured by North Korea after being convicted of trying to steal a propaganda poster and imprisoned for months.
The hostel was opened in 2007 next to the North Korean embassy in the heart of Berlin, not far from landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie. Judges at the capital’s administrative court ruled that city authorities were justified in ordering the closure of the City Hostel Berlin, which was opened in 2007 next to the North Korean Embassy and close to landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie.
Berlin authorities say the rent that the operators pay the embassy breaches U.N. Security Council sanctions and European Union regulations intended to stop the flow of hard currency to North Korea. The hostel’s operators claim they haven’t paid rent to the embassy since April 2017. City officials had argued that the rent the operators pay the embassy — estimated at 38,000 euros ($42,000) a month — breaches U.N. Security Council sanctions and European Union regulations intended to stop the flow of hard currency to North Korea.
The hostel’s operators claimed they stopped paying rent to the embassy in April 2017, but the court noted that an EU directive from 2017 forbids any use of North Korean territory other than for diplomatic or consular purposes.
Judges said Berlin authorities in fact had no choice but to close the hostel as North Korea “represents a threat to world peace due to its nuclear weapons program.”
The court ruled that the verdict cannot be appealed, but lawyers for the hostel operator can challenge that decision.
Lothar Harings, a German lawyer representing the Warmbier family, said he hoped the ruling would send a signal for commercial entities operating on North Korean territory in other European cities.
“We and the Warmbiers will now demand that the ruling is implemented,” Harings told The Associated Press. “We want to hold the regime in North Korea to account for its actions, for the torture and murder of (the Warmbiers’) son.”
“It’s hard for the Warmbiers to accept that diplomatic embassies are being used to earn money that flows to the regime in North Korea and thereby toward the manufacture of nuclear weapons,” he added.
Representatives for the hostel operator and the North Korean embassy couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.