Arthur Patterson, who has been convicted of Cho's murder, initially pointed to his Korean-American friend Edward Lee as the culprit. In the 1998 trial, Lee was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life, before the Supreme Court cleared him of the charge because of a lack of evidence.

The court on Thursday ruled that the state is responsible for "the psychological, physical and material damages" Cho's family suffered.

Cho's parents will get 150 million won each, and his two sisters will be awarded 20 million won each.

The half-Korean Patterson was in Seoul as the dependent of a civilian worker with the US military. He fled the country in 1999 as local law enforcement authorities failed to extend his foreign travel ban.

Patterson was extradited to South Korea from the United States in September 2015, four years after the local prosecution charged him with murder after reopening the case. The top court upheld the 20-year jail term for Patterson in January last year.

The top court acknowledged Lee as an accomplice but ruled he could not be punished due to the prohibition against double jeopardy. (Yonhap)