Seoul Court Orders North Korea to Pay $32.5M
Seoul Court Orders North Korea to Pay $32.5M
The News
A Seoul court on Wednesday ordered North Korea to pay South Korea 44.6 billion won — about $32.5 million — in damages for blowing up the countries' joint liaison office in 2020, Yonhap News Agency reported.
It is the first judgment in a lawsuit brought by the South Korean government against North Korea, according to Yonhap, as relayed by Reuters.
Timeline
North Korea demolishes the inter-Korean joint liaison office, a facility the two governments had used as a channel for contact.
A Seoul court orders the North to pay 44.6 billion won ($32.5 million) in damages over the demolition, Yonhap reports. Reuters and The Independent carry the ruling the same day.
Reactions
The ruling was first reported by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency and picked up by Reuters and The Independent.
Those reports carried no immediate response from North Korea, which did not take part in the case as described in the coverage.
What's Next
Because Pyongyang holds no assets in South Korean courts' reach that the reporting identifies, the practical question is whether Seoul can ever collect on the award.
The judgment is the first of its kind, so it sets the marker for any further damages claims the South Korean government brings against the North.
More
The liaison office was a joint facility operated by the two Koreas before the North destroyed it in 2020. The court put the cost of that destruction at 44.6 billion won, the figure both Reuters and The Independent reported Wednesday.
Poll
Will South Korea ever collect the $32.5 million from North Korea?
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