Seoul court orders North Korea to pay $32.5 million for 2020 liaison office blast

A Seoul court ordered North Korea to pay the South Korean government 44.6 billion won ($32.5 million) in damages Wednesday for blowing up the two Koreas' joint liaison office in 2020.

The ruling came in the first damages suit ever filed by the South Korean government against North Korea, though Seoul has no practical way to enforce it.

The South Korean government filed the suit as the "Republic of Korea" against the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in June 2023.

The Seoul Central District Court ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff 44,626,410,722 won, with 5 percent annual interest accruing from June 16, 2020 through June 7, 2025, and 12 percent annual interest thereafter until the full amount is paid. It also ordered North Korea to bear all litigation costs.

The liaison office that North Korea destroyed on June 16, 2020, was a product of the historic Panmunjom Declaration of April 27, 2018, and a symbol of then-President Moon Jae-in's policy toward North Korea. The declaration, signed by Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at their inter-Korean summit that day, committed both countries to pursuing a formal end to the Korean War, denuclearizing the peninsula and improving relations between the two Koreas. They also agreed to set up an office around Kaesong, a North Korean border city just north of the demilitarized zone, for round-the-clock inter-Korean communication.

Follow-up high-level talks placed it inside the Kaesong Industrial Complex, in a four-story building that had previously housed an inter-Korean exchange and cooperation office. About 1.68 billion won went into construction and renovation, and the office opened just 140 days after the Panmunjom Declaration, a turnaround meant to underscore both sides' commitment to improving relations.

At the opening ceremony on Sept. 14, 2018, then-Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and Ri Son-gwon, director of North Korea's now-abolished United Front Department, signed an agreement on the office's organization and operation as the two sides' chief delegates to inter-Korean high-level talks.

The office went on to handle communication and liaison between the two Koreas, official talks and consultations, support for civilian exchanges and travel arrangements for people crossing the border. It became a symbol of Moon's policy toward the North, reflecting his remark at Panmunjom that "the two Koreas should be able to meet anytime they want to."

Two years later, North Korea took issue with anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets that defector groups in the South had floated across the border and, in response, unilaterally blew up the building. The demolition came three days after Kim Yo-jong, then first vice department director of North's Workers' Party, warned that "before long, you will see the tragic scene of the useless North-South joint liaison office completely collapsed."

The South Korean government's position is that its northern counterpart bears liability for the damage because, although the land in the industrial complex belongs to the North, about 1.8 billion won in South Korean taxpayer money went into building the office. The 44.7 billion won the government sought combined damage to the liaison office building itself, valued at about 1.03 billion won, and an adjacent general support center building, valued at about 3.45 billion won.

Because there was no way to notify North Korea that it had been sued, the case proceeded through service by public notice, under which the court posts litigation documents on a bulletin board or in the official gazette and treats them as delivered. North Korea is expected not to comply with the payment order, as it has not in past civil suits. South Korea currently has no means to compel payment.

The court had postponed its ruling once before, at the Unification Ministry's request, reportedly to allow time to review measures to take after the verdict.

The ministry said Wednesday it "respects the court's decision and will review necessary measures," adding that "the government hopes inter-Korean dialogue will resume so that all issues between the two Koreas can be resolved through dialogue and cooperation."

BY CHO MUN-GYU [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]