Three syndicates settle part of huge claim with Kim Jong II's regime

Lloyd’s syndicates are part of a humiliating £35m payout to the pariah regime of North Korea and its reviled dictator Kim Jong II.

Three Lloyd’s syndicates have joined other companies in paying out to the state-owned Korea National Insurance Corporation (KNIC) over a helicopter crash.

The helicopter, which crashed in April 2005 on the outskirts of Pyongyang, destroyed food, shelter, medical equipment and humanitarian relief supplies.

KNIC settled the insurance claim by the helicopter’s airline but then turned to its foreign reinsurers in London and around the world.

The reinsurers were thought to have disputed the evidence from the notoriously secretive North Korean state.

Lawyers for KNIC claimed the reinsurers were reluctant to pay after nine years of no claims. The claim is now being settled. The syndicates have not been named.