A North Korean defector has launched a landmark legal challenge in South Korea against Kim Jong-un, accusing the regime of torture and sexual violence in its detention facilities.
Choi Min-kyung, 53, filed a civil lawsuit at Seoul Central District Court on Friday, seeking 50 million won (£29,000) in damages from the North Korean state, naming Kim and six other officials as responsible parties. Simultaneously, she submitted a criminal complaint to the prosecutors’ office, calling for an investigation into crimes against humanity committed by the regime.
This marks what supporters are calling the first time a North Korean defector has pursued legal action in South Korean courts for human rights abuses carried out by the Pyongyang regime.
“It’s been 13 years since I settled in South Korea, but I still suffer from severe PTSD from the torture and live dependent on medication,” Choi told The Guardian. “The scars on my entire body testify to the horrific reality of North Korean human rights.”
Choi fled North Korea in 1997 but was forcibly repatriated from China on four occasions between 2000 and 2008. During her final repatriation, she was detained across three separate facilities in North Hamgyong province over five months, where she was subjected to prolonged abuse.
The legal filings detail brutal mistreatment, including a body cavity search conducted without gloves, beatings severe enough to burst her eardrum and render her unconscious, and systematic torture through forced stress positions lasting more than 15 hours daily.
First North Korean-born lawyer qualified to practise in South Korea
Among Choi’s legal team is Lee Young-hyun, himself a defector and the first North Korean-born lawyer qualified to practise in South Korea. The case is backed by the Database Centre for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), which plans to use it as a foundation for submissions to United Nations (UN) human rights bodies and the International Criminal Court.
“This case may serve as a precedent-setting moment in South Korean jurisprudence, as domestic courts have had little prior case law dealing with crimes against humanity,” said Seongyeop Lee, a human rights analyst at NKDB. “Other victims have also expressed interest in legal action. This could lay the foundation for future collective lawsuits and contribute to broader accountability efforts.”
The criminal complaint invokes the principle of command responsibility, arguing that Kim Jong-un is liable for crimes committed by North Korean officials operating under his “effective control”. The document draws heavily on a 2014 UN commission of inquiry, which concluded that North Korea was responsible for widespread crimes against humanity, including torture, sexual violence, and arbitrary detention. The commission estimated that between 80,000 and 120,000 people are imprisoned in the country’s vast political prison network.
While South Korean courts have previously heard civil cases against the North, ranging from compensation for forced labour to abductions during the Korean War, this is the first to directly address crimes against humanity through survivor testimony.
Although the complaint lists North Korea’s UN mission in New York as the defendant’s address, there is no mechanism to enforce damages against the regime. Any verdict would therefore be symbolic, aimed at setting a legal and moral precedent.
“These are hugely complex legal proceedings that usually take years to build properly,” warned Joanna Hosaniak of the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, noting that crimes against humanity cases typically require multiple victims and clear evidence of systemic abuse.
Yet Choi remains resolute.
“We must act while survivors are still alive to testify,” she said. “This small step must become a cornerstone for freedom and human rights, so no more innocent North Koreans suffer under this brutal regime.
“We are the living witnesses.”
