Seoul court orders Kim Jong-un to compensate North Korean defector

A South Korean court ruled Friday in favor of a North Korean defector who sued regime leader Kim Jong-un for damages over alleged human rights abuses.

The verdict marked the first South Korean court ruling on a damages suit filed by a North Korean defector against Kim.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled entirely in favor of plaintiff Choi Min-kyeong, head of a group representing families of people detained in North Korea.

The court accepted Choi’s damages claim in full — 50 million won ($36,400). It gave no detailed reasoning for the decision.

Because the lawsuit was filed against the North Korean leader, the court served the legal documents by public notice, a procedure used when they cannot be delivered through ordinary channels. The documents are published in an official gazette or elsewhere and are then legally deemed served.

Choi filed the lawsuit in July last year with assistance from the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights.

Originally from North Hamgyong Province, Choi fled North Korea in 1997 and stayed in China before she was forcibly repatriated in 2008. Choi noted that she was tortured and sexually assaulted during five months at a detention facility in North Hamgyong Province.

She escaped North Korea again in 2012 and settled in South Korea.

“This is the first case in which a North Korean-born defector has sought to hold North Korea accountable for human rights abuses in a South Korean court,” Choi’s representatives said when the lawsuit was filed.

Choi also said she still relies on medication to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder due to the torture.

BY JEONG JIN-HO [[email protected]]