South Korea filed a 44.7 billion won (USD 35 million) damage suit against North Korea on Wednesday for blowing up a joint liaison office just north of their border in 2020, which highlighted a revival of tensions between the rivals following the collapse of larger nuclear talks between the US and North Korea.
The symbolic lawsuit filed with the Seoul Central District Court comes amid a prolonged freeze in diplomacy and growing concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. South Korea had until this Friday to claim damages, when a three-year statute of limitations over the incident would expire. Koo Byoungsam, spokesperson for Seoul’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, described the North’s detonation of the building as an unlawful and violent act that breached previous agreements between the countries and “fundamentally damaged the foundation of mutual respect and trust.” There’s no clear way for South Korea to force North Korea to pay if it is found liable for damages. Koo said the lawsuit, the first ever filed by South Korea’s government against North Korea’s government, was aimed at beating the statute of limitations and preserving South Korea’s legal right to compensation.
In June 2020, North Korea used explosives to blow up the South Korean-built liaison office in the North Korean border town of Kaesong after criticising South Korea’s failure to stop North Korean defectors from flying anti-North propaganda leaflets across the border using balloons. North Korea shut down the office in January 2020 as it closed its borders over coronavirus concerns, and the building was empty at the time of the detonation. The building’s destruction, posed a serious setback to efforts by then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a liberal, to engage with the North.