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Translated by: Flutura Gashi-Mehmeti
- July 10, 2025 11:14
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A North Korean defector is filing civil and criminal lawsuits against the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, for abuse she faced while detained in the country.
Choi Min-kyung fled North Korea to China in 1997, but was forcibly repatriated in 2008. She claims she was sexually abused and tortured upon her return.
When she files the case in Seoul on Friday, it will be the first time a North Korean-born defector has taken legal action against the regime, a South-based rights group helping Choi said.
South Korean courts have in the past ruled against North Korea on similar claims by South Koreans, but such rulings are largely symbolic and ignored by Pyongyang.
The case names Kim and four other Pyongyang officials.
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The rights group, the North Korea Human Rights Database Center (NKDB), says it also plans to take Choi's case to the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.
"I sincerely hope that this small step will become a cornerstone for the restoration of freedom and human dignity, so that no innocent North Korean will suffer under this brutal regime," Choi said on Wednesday, according to a statement from the NKDB.
"As a torture victim and survivor of the North Korean regime, I bear a deep and urgent responsibility to hold Kim accountable for crimes against humanity," she added.
Choi fled North Korea again in 2012 and settled in the South. She said the psychological trauma from the experience remains and that she continues to rely on medication.
For years, international human rights groups have documented alleged human rights violations by North Korea, ranging from abuse of political prisoners to systematic discrimination based on gender and class.
Hanna Song, executive director of the NKDB, told BBC Korean that the lawsuits were significant because they were pursuing criminal charges "in parallel" with civil cases.
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Previous court cases against North Korea have been "limited to civil lawsuits," she added.
In 2023, a Seoul court ordered North Korea to pay $36,000 each to three South Korean men who were exploited after being taken as prisoners of war in North Korea during the Korean War.
