South considers legal action against North's use of Kaesong complex

This file photo, taken Dec. 18, 2023, shows the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint industrial park in the North's border city of Kaesong. [YONHAP]

The Unification Ministry said Wednesday it plans to take legal actions against North Korea if Pyongyang expands its unauthorized use of the now-shuttered joint industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong in a full-scale manner.

The move is part of the government's 2024 basic plan for the development of inter-Korean relations. The ministry sets up a yearly execution plan for a broader five-year blueprint on the government's policy on North Korea.

Under the plan, the ministry said it could take legal steps against the North's unauthorized operations of South Korean assets at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, when certain "occasions" take place.

"The government could consider lodging a compensation suit against the North when our damages have become clear, in such cases as when North Korea expands its unauthorized use of the complex on a full scale, or abolishes related legislation and forfeits assets [of South Korean firms]," a ministry official said.

The government said in December that North Korea had been running some 30 South Korean-owned factories at the complex without authorization. The ministry estimated damages incurred from North Korea's illegal use of the South's assets at around 400 billion won ($294 million).

In June 2023, the ministry filed a 44.7 billion-won compensation suit with a Seoul court against the North blowing up a joint liaison office in the Kaesong Industrial Complex in 2020.

Meanwhile, the ministry said it will focus on raising public awareness of North Korea's "inhumane and anachronistic" acts, such as the country's human rights violations and its idolization of leader Kim Jong-un.

It will also analyze North Korea's psychological warfare targeting South Korea and map out response measures.

Touching on North Korea's human rights situations, the ministry plans to analyze rights abuses case by case and set up a database centering on human rights violators.

On the issue of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, the government said it plans to establish a digital archive to systemically manage records on their lives.

Yonhap