NK siblings unable to get inheritances

Court ruling expected to trigger legal debate over future similar cases

By Kim Jae-won

A ruling in the Supreme Court Wednesday acknowledging four North Korean as children of a deceased South Korean doctor has reignited debate about the constitutionality of a special law which prevents Northerners from claiming any inheritance they are entitled to in the South.

Four siblings in Pyongyang ― three daughters and one son ― won a paternity lawsuit in the court and finally received recognition of their right to inherit their late father’s estate valued at 3.2 billion won. The deceased doctor surnamed Yun died in 1987.

This is the first time that the highest court has recognized North Korean residents as blood relatives of a family in the South.

However, they cannot claim their inheritance just yet due to a special law which prohibits assets in the South from being transferred to the North. According to the Special Law on Inheritance between Southerners and Northerners, North Korean residents can claim their assets in the South only if they defect from the country or when the two Koreas become reunified.

Until then, the assets are held under the management of a lawyer appointed by the court. The law has been effective since May 2012.

“The law clearly violates the Constitution which recognizes North Korean people as citizens of the Republic of Korea. The legislation is against the Constitution which protects the property rights of individuals and undermines human rights of North Koreans,” said Bae Keum-ja, an attorney of law firm Haein who represented the North Korean siblings.

But, the Ministry of Justice which initiated the law maintains that the law is intended not to ban North Koreans from claiming their inheritances here, on the contrary it seeks to guarantee them the right to any property due them.

“The law is seeking to make sure that the assets are given to North Korean residents, not to the regime. We are prepared to approve sending the assets if the North Korean people meet some conditions, such as the amount of money and the reason of the transfer,” said Jang So-young, a prosecutor in the ministry.

Jang, however, declined to disclose the transfer limit for the assets.

The father who ran a clinic in North Korea crossed the border into the South during the Korean War (1950-53) only with his eldest daughter, leaving his wife and four children in the North. He married a South Korean woman after settling here and had four children with her.

He ran a clinic in the South and left some 10 billion won ($8.9 million) of assets to his family.

Yun’s eldest daughter established contact with her North Korean siblings with the help of an American missionary in South Korea and filed the lawsuit in 2009 on their behalf.

The lawsuit demanded that the court confirm their blood ties with her deceased father, according to the court records.

A district court and an appeals court previously ruled in favor of the North Koreans based on the results of a DNA test.

The North Korean children also filed a separate lawsuit, demanding their share of the 10 billion won estate that their father left to his new family in the South. Ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, the Seoul Central District Court in 2011 ordered the South Korean family to share the inheritance with their North Korean siblings.