Court Rules North Korea Must Pay 44.6 Billion Won for Unilateral Blowing Up of Liaison Office (Updated)

[Financial News] A South Korean court has ordered North Korea to pay the Government of the Republic of Korea approximately 44.6 billion won in damages for blowing up the Inter-Korean Liaison Office in 2020 over the distribution of anti-North Korea leaflets. This marks the government’s victory, after three years and three months, in the first lawsuit filed by the South Korean government—not an individual—against North Korea.
The 46th Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Kim Hyeong-cheol, ruled in favor of the plaintiff on Monday in the damages lawsuit filed by the Government of the Republic of Korea against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The court essentially accepted the plaintiff’s claim in full, awarding 44,626,410,722 won. It did not explain the specific grounds for the ruling.
The two Koreas opened the office in September 2018 after then-President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula on April 27 of that year. The building had previously been used since 2007 as the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Consultation Office within the Kaesong Industrial Complex, as well as a venue for inter-Korean talks.
After the 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit collapsed, meetings between the two sides’ liaison officers were also suspended one after another. In 2020, South Korean personnel had to vacate the office because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June of that year, North Korea unilaterally blew up the liaison office building, citing the distribution of anti-North Korea leaflets by a North Korean defector group as a problem.
The Ministry of Unification (MOU) filed the lawsuit against North Korea in June 2023 to suspend the three-year statute of limitations on claims for damages from the destruction of the liaison office and preserve the state’s claim. MOU calculated the damage to state-owned property at 10.25 billion won for the liaison office building and 34.45 billion won for the adjacent Comprehensive Support Center, totaling approximately 44.7 billion won.
Because the South Korean government could not follow ordinary trial procedures with North Korea, it proceeded with the case through methods such as service by publication. North Korea is also expected to refuse to pay the damages.
North Korea has previously been ordered to pay damages in lawsuits involving forced labor imposed on South Korean prisoners of war who defected from the North, victims abducted to North Korea during the Korean War, families of victims of the Battle of Yeonpyeong, and the bereaved families of public officials killed in the West Sea. North Korea has never paid any damages awarded by a court.
[email protected] Chang-hoon Lee Reporter