S. Korean court accepts inheritance claim by North Korean family

By Kim Boram
SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court accepted a request by a North Korean
family seeking to prevent the South Korean spouse of their deceased father from
selling off property she inherited after his death, court officials said
Thursday.
Four North Korean children filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court
earlier this week claiming a portion of the real estate valued at 10 billion won
(US$6.6 million) left behind by their late father, identified by his surname
Yoon, who died in 1987.
Yoon came to the South during the 1950-53 Korean War, leaving his first wife and
four of their five children behind in the North. Only one of his four children in
the North accompanied him to the South.
He remarried in the South and had four more children, officials said.
The court forbid Yoon's South Korean wife, identified only by her last name Kwon,
from disposing of the property until it decides whether Yoon's North Korean
children have any legal claim to the inheritance, officials said.
The suit was filed on the plaintiffs' behalf by an unnamed member of a civic
group who frequently visits the North for relief activities.
The North Koreans submitted bits of their fingernails and hair for DNA tests,
along with their North Korean citizenship records, to prove their filial relation
to their late father, according to the officials.
brk@yna.co.kr
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