SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A South Korean court ruled on Wednesday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) should pay 44.6 billion won (32.5 million U.S. dollars) to the South Korean government over the demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office building in 2020.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs' compensation claim, but did not provide specific reasons for the ruling. This marked the first time that the South Korean government had sued the DPRK as a plaintiff and won the case, reported the Yonhap News Agency.
In June 2020, the DPRK blew up the liaison office building in DPRK's border town of Kaesong. According to the Korean Central News Agency, the move was a retaliatory measure in response to public sentiment. South Korea's Ministry of Unification filed a related lawsuit against the DPRK in June 2023.
In April 2018, then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in and DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un met at the border village of Panmunjom and issued the Panmunjom Declaration, pledging to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a peace mechanism.
Established in accordance with the Panmunjom Declaration, the inter-Korean liaison office was the first of its kind in the history of inter-Korean relations. It officially began operations in September 2018. ■