Former Korean Japanese people who defected from North Korea after migrating to the North under the communist state’s repatriation program decades ago won a damages suit filed in Seoul against Pyongyang.

The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday ordered the North Korean government to pay 100 million won (US$74,700) each to five defectors who claimed they relocated to the North after being deceived by its regime propaganda program.

The five plaintiffs are part of some 93,000 Korean Japanese people who migrated from Japan to North Korea between 1959 and 1984 under the North’s repatriation program. They were forcibly assigned homes and jobs in North Korea before suffering forced labor and human rights violations.

The five launched the lawsuit in March, saying they entered the North after being enticed by its “paradise on Earth” propaganda but were detained and suffered psychological damage.

As Pyongyang did not respond to the lawsuit, however, the court hearing has proceeded through the “conveyance by pub
lic announcement” system, in which litigation documents are published on the court bulletin board or the official gazette.

Source: Yonhap News Agency