hankyoreh

“Let’s reunify”.

By Park Tae-woo, staff reporter

Mrs. Yoon, 77, is a native of South Pyongan province in what is today North Korea. During the Korean War, her father took her, his eldest daughter, with him to South Korea, leaving her two brothers and three sisters behind. He went on to remarry and have four more children, two boys and two girls. By the time he passed away in 1997, he had amassed a sizable fortune in real estate and other holdings. But during the registration of the inheritance in 2008, a battle ended up breaking out between Mrs. Yoon and her half-siblings.

She learned from an American missionary that four of her full siblings are still alive in North Korea. She also received a 2010 court ruling confirming that they were the offspring of her father. After filing suit for a portion of the inheritance on their behalf, she finally received a settlement in which they would receive 3.25 billion won (US$3 million) in real estate and cash from their half-siblings.

Mrs. Yoon spent 690 million won (US$637,400) of the money on her litigation, eventually coming away with 2.3 billion won (US$2.12 million) after signing a sales contract in which she sold her real estate to her North Korean siblings for 2.5 billion won (US$2.3 million). She also signed a contract stating that she would lease and hold their real estate until when they could manage it themselves, with the maintenance costs counting as rent.

Last May, the Act on Special Cases Concerning Family Relations and Inheritances Between North and South Koreans went into effect. The act stipulates that North Koreans who acquire South Korean property through inheritance request the court appointment of a property custodian. Mrs. Yoon tried to get appointed as property manager for her siblings in North Korea.

But the court gave the status instead to a non-relative, an attorney identified by the surname Kim.

Park Hee-geun, judge for the 21st family affairs division at Seoul Family Court, ruled on Nov. 30 that it was "proper for the efficient management of the considerable assets acquired by the siblings in North Korea that a neutral attorney be appointed as property manager instead of Mrs. Yoon, who has a conflict of interest."

A court official said the decision to appoint a neutral party was made because Mrs. Yoon was suspected of spending or concealing part of the inheritance ahead of the law going into effect and before she requested to be appointed property manager.


"This is the first appointment of a property custodian since the law went into effect, and it clearly shows the legitimacy and necessity of the law," the official added.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]