Court Orders North Korea to Pay KRW 44.6 Billion for 'Kaesong Liaison Office Explosion'
Court Delivers Ruling on 2020 Unauthorized Demolition
Verdict Issued Following Public Notice Delivery Procedure
North Korea, which blew up the Kaesong Inter-Korean Liaison Office six years ago, has been ordered by a court to pay the government KRW 44.6 billion (446 billion won) in damages.
North Korea detonated the Inter-Korean Liaison Office in Kaesong around 2:50 p.m. on June 16, 2020. Photo by Yonhap News
View original imageOn September 16, the 46th Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Hyeongcheol) delivered a ruling in favor of the government in a lawsuit seeking damages from North Korea, stating, "North Korea must pay the government KRW 44,626,410,000." The amount claimed by the government was approximately KRW 44.6 billion. This sum consists of approximately KRW 10.25 billion for damages to the Liaison Office building and about KRW 34.45 billion for damages to the nearby Integrated Support Center, which was also damaged in the explosion.
This lawsuit marks the first time the government has filed a claim for damages against North Korea.
The Liaison Office was opened in the Kaesong Industrial Complex on September 14, 2018, in accordance with the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration announced by the leaders of North and South Korea that year. On June 16, 2020, North Korea unilaterally demolished the Liaison Office building, citing the dispatch of anti-North Korean leaflets by defector groups as the reason. It is reported that the government invested approximately KRW 18 billion in the construction of the Liaison Office.
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As it was difficult to deliver the lawsuit documents to North Korea, this case proceeded via public notice delivery. Public notice delivery is a system in which court documents are posted on the court’s bulletin board if the whereabouts of the defendant are unknown, and delivery is deemed complete after a certain period has elapsed.
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