The Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) is facing a 6.5 trillion won (US$4.9 billion) lawsuit. The people who filed the lawsuit are the victims of serial bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and their bereaved families.
In 1998, a series of bombings hit U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In 2014, a U.S. court ruled that the Iranian government should take responsibility for the terrorist attacks and pay damages.
IBK and Woori Bank have US$7 billion earmarked to be paid for Iran’s crude oil exports in an account held by the Iranian Central Government Bank, but sanctions against Iran have frozen the account.
The victims and bereaved families of the serial bombings filed a lawsuit demanding that IBK hand over the held Iranian assets to them. The amount of the damages awarded by the lawsuit is US$5.5 billion.
