A North Korean defector plans to file a civil and criminal lawsuit against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and others for crimes against humanity in a South Korean court.
The Center for Human Rights Legal Support at the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) said on July 9 that it will submit a civil complaint and a criminal complaint to the Seoul Central District Court and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, respectively, on behalf of Choi Min-kyeong, head of the North Korea Imprisonment Victims’ Family Association, on July 11.
![North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the Ministry of National Defense on February 8 to mark the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army, encouraging and rallying the troops. [YONHAP]](https://www.koreadailyus.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/RESIZE20250222_90267934.jpg)
Choi defected from North Korea in 1997 and stayed in China until she was forcibly repatriated in 2008. She claims she was subjected to sexual abuse, physical violence and inhumane torture for five months at a detention facility in North Korea. After three more failed attempts, she defected for the fifth and final time in January 2012 and settled in South Korea in October of the same year.
Choi plans to file a criminal complaint against five people, including Kim Jong-un and members of the Ministry of State Security, for violations of the Act on Punishment of Crimes under Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
“I am driven by an urgent sense of responsibility to hold accountable those behind the Kim regime’s crimes against humanity,” Choi said. “I hope this legal action draws domestic and international attention to the issue of human rights in North Korea.”
BY JANG GU-SEUL [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]
