Defector Wins Lawsuit Against North Korea's Kim Jong-un: "Must Pay 50 Million Won in Damages"

Seoul Central District Court Rules Fully in Plaintiff’s Favor
"Claims of Five Months of Human Rights Violations After Forced Repatriation"

Choi Min-kyung, head of the Association of Families Victimized by Detention in North Korea, who has claimed she suffered human rights violations such as torture after being forcibly transferred to North Korea, has won her damages lawsuit against North Korea.

According to Yonhap News Agency on the 28th, the Seoul Central District Court's 93rd Civil Division (Judge Jo Jeong-min presiding) ruled in favor of Choi in her lawsuit for damages against North Korea. The court fully acknowledged Choi's claim for 50 million won in damages.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Photo by Yonhap News

Choi filed the lawsuit in July last year, claiming that she was subjected to human rights violations by North Korea. Originally from Gyeongwon County, North Hamgyong Province, Choi enjoyed an affluent childhood thanks to her father, who was a senior official in the Workers’ Party, but decided to defect from North Korea after facing financial difficulties following Kim Il Sung's death in 1994. After escaping from North Korea in 1997, Choi stayed in China, but in 2008, she was apprehended by the Chinese police and forcibly repatriated. She claims that, while detained in facilities including the Onsong State Security Department in North Hamgyong Province, she suffered sexual abuse, physical violence, and cruel torture—amounting to violations of her human rights—over a period of about five months.

After coming to South Korea in October 2012, Choi has been engaged in human rights activism for North Korea. She filed the lawsuit in cooperation with the Human Rights Violation Support Center at the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB). At that time, Choi’s legal team argued that, since the Constitution of the Republic of Korea considers the entire Korean Peninsula as its territory and includes North Koreans as nationals, it is possible to file such a lawsuit in a South Korean court. The Human Rights Violation Support Center at NKDB stated, "This case holds historical significance as the first lawsuit filed by a native North Korean victim of human rights abuses."

The court proceeded with the case via public notification delivery, as there was no way to notify North Korea of the lawsuit. Public notification delivery is a legal process in which, when it is impossible to deliver legal documents to the party concerned, the court posts the content on its bulletin board or in an official gazette, and considers the documents as delivered to the recipient.

However, as with previous similar civil lawsuits against North Korea, it is expected that North Korea will not comply with the payment of damages. Previously, in February last year, the family of Lee Dae-jun, a government official who was killed by North Korean soldiers in the West Sea, won a damages lawsuit against North Korea. In September 2024, North Korean defectors of Korean-Japanese origin, who were subjected to human rights violations after moving to North Korea due to regime propaganda, also won their damages lawsuit against North Korea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.