A South Korean court has ruled that North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un must pay former South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) who ere captured by the North Korean army during the Korean War and subjected to hard labor and slavery.
The Seoul Central District Court disclosed on Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his regime would be held accountable for compensating the plaintiffs – an 85-year-old man with the surname Han, and a 91-year-old man surnamed Noh – to the tune of around 21 million won ($17,500) each in damages for keeping them against their will in the North for many years after the end of hostilities in 1953.
The ruling marks the first time a South Korean court claimed jurisdiction over Pyongyang or released a payment order against the country's leader, based on a campaign organization supporting the plaintiffs.
The two men said they were captured during the 1950-53 Korean War, but were never released after the truce that brought hostilities to an end. Since no peace treaty has ever been signed, the two countries are still technically at war.
The former POWs are considering taking legal action to seize copyright fees valued at around 2 billion won that were collected from local media outlets for their use of TV footage and photos released by the North Korean media. Compensation has been halted since 2008 when a North Korean soldier killed a South Korean female tourist at the Mount Geumgang tourism resort.
If Han and Noh secure the money, they will become the first South Koreans to receive financial compensation for the pain they suffered at the hands of their captors. Pyongyang is unlikely to accept the verdict, however.
An important element in the court proceeding was the delivery of litigation papers to the North Korean government and Kim as parties not situated in the South. A trial can only be conducted once the people and entities involved in the suit have received related documents from the court.
The plaintiff's legal team plans to collect the payment out of royalties paid to the Foundation of Inter-Korea Cooperation by South Korean media and publishing companies in exchange for the use of North Korea-related materials.
By the end of the war, there were around 170,000 North Korean and Chinese prisoners in the U.S.-led UN forces' labor camps, while 100,000 South Korean and UN soldiers were held in the North, according to the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul.
