N. Korean defects to S. Korea to seek inheritance

A North Korean woman has defected to South Korea to claim an inheritance from her late grandfather, an official said Wednesday, in the latest of several cross-border claims on long-lost relatives. The unidentified woman has filed suit claiming a share of the property that her step-grandmother gained after the grandfather's death, the official at Seoul Western District Court told AFP. The grandfather left his wife and four children in the North and came South during the 1950-53 war. He married again and amassed a fortune, according to JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. He had no children with his new wife in the South and a few years ago met the granddaughter -- his only surviving kin in the North -- through a family reunion programme. The two stayed in touch and the grandfather often sent money to the woman in the impoverished communist state. She defected after learning of her grandfather's death last year, and recently filed court evidence to try to prove her family connection. The step-grandmother was now seeking a DNA test to verify the family relationship, the court official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "If the family relationship is proved by the DNA test, the North Korean woman will for sure get her share of the inheritance," he said. The official said he was aware of "more and more" similar lawsuits filed by North Koreans. He declined to say how much the inheritance in this particular case was worth. Another Seoul court decided in June that four North Koreans and their five half-brothers and sisters in the South should share the assets left by their late father, in the first ruling of its kind. The North Koreans filed suit against their South Korean kin in February 2009 demanding a share of the 10 billion won ($9.35 million) worth of assets left by their father, who died in the South in 1987. The division of the peninsula, and the subsequent war, split tens of thousands of families. Many do not know whether relatives across the heavily fortified border are still alive. However Seoul's constitution considers the entire peninsula its territory and the North's citizens automatically have citizenship in the South, meaning they can pursue court cases. The cabinet Wednesday approved legislation that defines the legal rights of North Koreans whose family members fled to the South after the war. It says North Koreans cannot take inheritances from South Korean relatives out of the country without the Seoul government's approval.