UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- An Israel-based civil rights group is trying to seize a North Korean ship being held in Mexico in a rare effort to make Pyongyang pay at least part of a rare $330 million U.S. District Court judgment against it.

The Shurat HaDin law center in April won the ruling over the abduction of a South Korean-born pastor in China and his presumed torture and killing in North Korea. Now the center seeks whatever assets it can find from the largely isolated country.

It has focused on the cargo ship the Mu Du Bong, which has been held in Mexico after it ran aground there last year.

Civil courts in Mexico City and the state of Veracruz have declined to hear Shurat HaDin's request, but it is now appealing.