By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Half-siblings in North and South Korea are involved in a legal dispute over their deceased father's fortune.

The Seoul Central District Court held the first trial of the suit filed on behalf of four North Korean residents by their sister, identified as Yoon, who is a South Korean resident.

She filed the case against her stepmother and half siblings in the South to divide the fortune left by their late father.

The eldest daughter, Yoon came to South Korea during the Korean War with her father, leaving her mother and four other siblings in the North. In the South, he reported his wife was dead and remarried. He died in 1987, leaving a fortune of 10 billion won.

Yoon found out her brothers and sisters were alive in 2000 through a missionary organization and filed a suit in court. Samples of their hair and nails were sent from the North for DNA testing at Severance Hospital in Seoul.

She also filed a second suit claiming that her father's second marriage was bigamy and thus invalid since he falsified the death report of his first wife.

The suit is currently pending at the Constitutional Court, and any ruling will affect all cross-border inheritance cases.

However, it is unclear how the assets would get to the siblings in the North if the court rules in their favor.

The wealth would have to be exchanged into cash, but the North does not allow its citizens to possess foreign currency. As there is no legal basis for North Koreans to own real estate in South Korea, it would be difficult for the four to register property in their names.

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr