South Korean Court Orders North Korea to Pay Damages for Demolition

Nearly five years after North Korea blew up a symbol of inter-Korean engagement, a Seoul court has ordered Pyongyang to pay 44.6 billion won (€ 28.2m) in damages, South Korean media reported — the first time a South Korean lawsuit against the North has produced such a ruling.

The case was filed in June 2023 by South Korea’s previous conservative administration under former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Mr Yoon was later ousted from office after his short-lived December 2024 martial law declaration.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Seoul Central District Court sided with the South Korean government and ordered North Korea to pay the full 44.6 billion won Seoul sought over the 2020 destruction of the inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong.

Media reports said the court also required North Korea to cover the costs of litigation.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it respected the decision and would examine what follow-up steps were needed.

The ministry added that it hoped talks between the two Koreas would restart, arguing that outstanding issues should be addressed through cooperation and dialogue.

When the lawsuit was launched, the government described the demolition as “clearly illegal under the law” and said the filing in 2023 was intended to halt the running of the statute of limitations on the claim for damages, which was set to expire that year.

North Korea destroyed the liaison office building inside the Kaesong industrial complex on 16 June 2020. Pyongyang said it acted after a group of North Korean defectors scattered propaganda leaflets across the border.

In the immediate aftermath of the blast, South Korea said the North would bear full responsibility for any consequences stemming from the destruction.

The Kaesong liaison office was established under the 2018 Panmunjom Declaration as a 24-hour communications and consultation channel designed to keep contacts open between Seoul and Pyongyang.

Seoul assessed the losses at 44.7 billion won, a figure that included the value of the liaison office itself as well as a nearby inter-Korean economic cooperation support centre that was damaged in the explosion and left unusable.

Even with the court’s decision in Seoul’s favour, media reports noted that Pyongyang was unlikely to engage with the proceedings and that South Korea currently has no mechanism to compel North Korea to pay any damages awarded.

The judgment lands at a time of renewed strain on the peninsula, despite South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s efforts to improve relations since taking office last year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has dismissed those overtures, abandoning Pyongyang’s reunification policy and calling South Korea its most hostile state.