SEOUL: A South Korean court ruled Wednesday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) should pay 44.6 billion won (32.5 million U.S. dollars) to the South Korean government for demolishing an inter-Korean liaison office building in 2020.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favour of the plaintiffs' compensation claim, but did not provide specific reasons for the ruling. This marked the first time the South Korean government had sued the DPRK as a plaintiff and won, Yonhap News Agency reported.
In June 2020, the DPRK blew up the liaison office building in DPRK's border town of Kaesong. According to the Korean Central News Agency, the move was retaliation for public sentiment. South Korea's Ministry of Unification filed a related lawsuit against the DPRK in June 2023.
In April 2018, then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in and DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un met at the border village of Panmunjom and issued the Panmunjom Declaration, pledging to work toward denuclearising the Korean Peninsula and establishing a peace mechanism.
Established under the Panmunjom Declaration, the inter-Korean liaison office was the first of its kind in inter-Korean relations. It officially began operations in September 2018. E- Xinhua
