South Korean court orders North Korea to pay $32.5 million for blowing up liaison office

A South Korean court has ruled that North Korea should pay the South 44.6 billion won, or about $32.5 million, for blowing up a joint liaison office between the countries in 2020. The destruction of the building came as their relations deteriorated following the collapse of nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington. Wednesday’s ruling by the Seoul Central District Court was symbolic as South Korea has no clear way to force the North to pay amid a diplomatic breakdown.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent years has suspended all meaningful diplomacy with the South and declared it his most hostile enemy while advancing his nuclear weapons program and pursuing closer ties with Moscow and Beijing.

Read the original report at Apnews.