A Seoul court ruled Wednesday that North Korea must pay about 44.6 billion won ($32.5 million) in compensation to the South Korean government for the 2020 demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office building in the North's border town of Kaesong.

A combination of photos shows the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong before (top) and after its demolition by North Korea on June 16, 2020. (Yonhap)
A combination of photos shows the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong before (top) and after its demolition by North Korea on June 16, 2020. (Yonhap)

The Seoul Central District Court issued the ruling three years and three months after the South Korean government filed its first lawsuit against North Korea.

The court effectively granted the full amount of 44,626,410,722 won claimed by the plaintiff, though it did not provide specific reasons for the ruling.

The two Koreas opened the liaison office in Kaesong in September 2018 to facilitate inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, amid a reconciliatory mood created by summit talks between their leaders in April that year. The office suspended its operations in January 2020 due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North blew up the joint liaison office building on June 16, 2020, in protest of Seoul's failure to stop North Korean defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

The unification ministry sued North Korea in June 2023 over the incident, seeking compensation -- the first time the South Korean government has taken legal action against the North.

The ministry estimated that the total damages included 10.25 billion won for the liaison office building itself and 34.45 billon won for an adjacent support facility, which was seriously damaged by the demolition.

The court proceedings took place without any representative of North Korea. Despite winning the case, however, the plaintiff may find it difficult to actually collect the compensation, as has been the case with previous civil lawsuits against North Korea. South Korea has no means of forcing Pyongyang to make the payment. (Yonhap)