South Korean court orders North Korea to pay $32.5 million for blowing up joint liaison office

A South Korean court has ruled that North Korea should pay the South 44.6 billion won ($32.5 million) for blowing up a joint liaison office between the countries in 2020 as their relations deteriorated following the collapse of nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington.Wednesday’s ruling by the Seoul Central District Court was symbolic as South Korea has no clear way to force the North to pay amid a diplomatic breakdown.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent years has suspended all meaningful diplomacy with the South and declared it his most hostile enemy while advancing his nuclear weapons program and pursuing closer ties with Moscow and Beijing as part of what he has described as a “new Cold War.”While there have been cases of individuals suing the North Korean government over human rights abuses and other issues, the liaison office case was the first time the South Korean government sued Pyongyang.South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles affairs related to North Korea, said it respects the court’s ruling and called for a resumption of inter-Korean diplomacy so that “all issues between the South and North can be resolved through dialogue and cooperation.” North Korean state media didn’t immediately comment on the ruling.South Korea filed the suit in 2023, describing the North’s detonation of the building in the North Korean border town of Kaesong as an unlawful and violent act that breached previous agreements between the countries and severely damaged “mutual respect and trust.”Seoul was then ruled by a conservative government that took a hard line on North Korea’s nuclear and missile development and its military support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while strengthening security cooperation with the United States and Japan to counter the North Korean threat.South Korea shifted to a softer tone under current liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who took office last year after his conservative predec...