NORTH Korea must pay damages to the crew of a US spy ship captured by Pyongyang’s forces in 1968, a federal court in Washington has ruled.

The court ruled that surviving members of the USS Pueblo’s crew, who the US claims were tortured for 11 months after being captured by the North Korean navy, are owed compensation for their treatment.

It awarded them $1.15 billion (£820 million) for confinement and suffering and doubled the figure for punitive damages against Pyongyang.

US government-appointed “special master” Alan Balaran assessed the case to decide how damages were to be apportioned, with most of the crew said to have suffered long-lasting after-effects, both psychological and physical.

“As a result of the barbarity inflicted by the North Koreans, almost all required medical and/or psychiatric intervention,” Mr Balaran wrote.

“Many have undergone invasive surgical procedures to ameliorate the physical damage resulting from the relentless torture they underwent as prisoners,” he wrote.

“Several have attempted to numb their pain through alcohol and drugs, and most have seen their domestic and/or professional lives deteriorate. A few have contemplated suicide.”

The case was only brought in 2018 after the US Justice Department decided that foreign states could be sued if they were deemed to be sponsors of international terrorism. North Korea was designated as such by the former Trump administration in late 2017.

The capture of the USS Pueblo was a major incident in the cold war, occurring at the height of the Vietnam war just before the Tet Offensive. The US navy ship was disguised as an environmental vessel but was on a spy mission.

Washington insisted that the vessel was taken in international waters. But Pyongyang said that the Pueblo’s log book showed that it had made a number of incursions into North Korean waters. 

One crew member was killed during the ship’s capture and the remaining 82 were taken hostage before being released after negotiations.

North Korea has kept the USS Pueblo and turned it into a museum, but it remains on the US list of ships on active service.

The court awarded damages of $22m (£15.8m) to $48 (£34.4m) to each of the 49 surviving crew members and smaller sums to about 100 family members. It is unlikely that North Korea, which was not represented in the case, will pay.

The US has still not paid the $17bn (£12.2bn) damages owed to Nicaragua under an International Court of Justice ruling for damage caused by its efforts to overthrow the Sandinista government.