Arbitrum delegates are considering releasing 30,765 ETH frozen after the rsETH exploit, but a lawyer for victims of North Korean terrorism has intervened, claiming the funds should go to families with outstanding judgments against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The lawyer, Charles Gerstein, has filed a restraining notice under New York law, invoking a mechanism that allows creditors to freeze assets without a new court order. The claims date back to the 1970s and include the Lod Airport massacre and the abduction of a US permanent resident.
The plaintiffs have spent years searching for North Korean assets to seize, and Gerstein argues that the frozen ETH qualifies as North Korean property under US enforcement law. The move has drawn pushback from delegates, who argue that the ETH belongs to the original rsETH depositors and that blocking the recovery effort would shift the cost of North Korea's debt onto a different set of victims.