UPDATE: One Free Korea has more details on the litigation issue and actually proposed such a measure himself a few months back.
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I know it will never happen, but could you imagine Kim Jong-il in a courtroom?
A leading U.S. law firm on Wednesday released a report on ways to take legal action over the North Korean regime’s human rights violations. The report by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was made at the request of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, a private organization. It counsels worldwide organizations handling human rights in the North to make the most of the International Criminal Court, the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Commission, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This report says it is possible for North Korean refugees in the U.S. to sue North Korea for damages for harassment they suffered from the Kim Jong-il regime under the Alien Tort Claims Act. North Korean refugees in the U.S. can make an issue of torture, summary execution and forced labor by the Kim regime based on the U.S. judicial procedures. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom employs some 800 lawyers at its headquarters in New York and 1,600 worldwide. [Chosun Ilbo]
What is interesting about this is that if the defectors win the court case how would they get any money from North Korea? Would the US look to freeze North Korean accounts to pay the defectors? Also could defectors in South Korea sue as well? This has the potential of really opening a can of worms against the North Korean regime.
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11:35 am on December 4th, 2007 1
One wonders if the same act could be used for foreign teachers in Korea who have been wronged by their hagwon directors to sue them from the states. What about suing a Korean insurance company to pay out the costs of Medical care (and punitive damages) in the states for US victims of auto accidents in Korea.
3:56 pm on December 4th, 2007 2
That is an interesting question if English teachers can sue a hagwon from a US court. I doubt it because no matter how bad the hagwon treats someone it probably would not be considered a human rights violation that would hold up in court. Maybe if Brendon Carr is reading this he can leave a comment.