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

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court has ruled that North Korea should pay the South 44.6 billion won ($32.5 million) for blowing up a joint liaison office between the countries in 2020 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 as part of what he has described as a “new Cold War.”

While there have been cases of individuals suing the North Korean government over human rights abuses and other issues, the liaison office case was the first time the South Korean government sued Pyongyang.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles affairs related to North Korea, said it respects the court’s ruling and called for a resumption of inter-Korean diplomacy so that “all issues between the South and North can be resolved through dialogue and cooperation.” North Korean state media didn't immediately comment on the ruling.

South Korea filed the suit in 2023, describing the North’s detonation of the building in the North Korean border town of Kaesong as an unlawful and violent act that breached previous agreements between the countries and severely damaged “mutual respect and trust.”

Seoul was then ruled by a conservative government that took a hard line on North Korea’s nuclear and missile development and its military support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while strengthening security cooperation with the United States and Japan to counter the North Korean threat.

South Korea shifted to a softer tone under current liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who took office last year after his conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol was ousted over his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024. But North Korea has so far ignored Lee’s calls to resume diplomacy.

In June 2020, North Korea used explosives to blow up the South Korean-built liaison office in Kaesong after criticizing Seoul’s failure to stop North Korean defectors from flying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border using balloons. North Korea shut down the office in January 2020 as it closed its borders over coronavirus concerns, and the building was empty at the time of the detonation.

The building’s destruction was then seen as a calculated display of anger to pressure Seoul over deadlocked nuclear negotiations with Washington. Former liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Kim three times in 2018 while helping set up Kim’s first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in June that year. However, the diplomacy derailed after the second Kim-Trump summit in 2019 at which the Americans rejected North Korea’s demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Kim has accelerated the expansion of his nuclear weapons and missile arsenal in recent years while strengthening his ties with Russia, sending thousands of troops and large quantities of weapons to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Trump has expressed interest in reviving diplomacy with Kim entering his second term and last month ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” a major military exercise with South Korea, citing what he called a “good relationship” with Kim. But Kim’s government has so far dismissed Trump’s dialogue offers and called for Washington to discard its demands for the North’s denuclearization as a precondition for reviving talks.

A photo showing the demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office building in Kaesong, North Korea, is displayed at the Unification Observation Post in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. The sign reads ''The demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office building.'' (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A photo showing the demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office building in Kaesong, North Korea, is displayed at the Unification Observation Post in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. The signs read ''The demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office building.'' (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korean soldiers stand at a North Korean military guard post near a flying national flag, seen from Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

FILE - This photo provided by the North Korean government shows the demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office building in Kaesong, North Korea on June 16, 2020. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A local NBC news helicopter crashed in a Los Angeles neighborhood on Tuesday and burst into flames, killing at least three people while reporters were covering the nearby crash of an SUV and a city bus, officials said.

Colleen Williams, an NBC4 Los Angeles anchor, confirmed during a live broadcast that the station's chopper went down just before 7 p.m.

“We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, process it,” she said, her voice shaking with emotion. Moments later their coverage abruptly cut off.

The helicopter crashed near a storage building in the neighborhood of Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley, as news crews were covering the bus crash that left at least two people dead and six others injured, according the Los Angeles Fire Department.

At least one person killed in the helicopter crash was outside in the parking lot next to the commercial building, Capt. Branden Silverman, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said during a news conference. It was unclear if the other two who were killed were on the ground or inside the aircraft.

One person was taken to the hospital, but their condition was not known.

“We’re trying to determine how many patients were inside the helicopter,” said Silverman, who described the helicopter as “pretty well destroyed” and adding that officials would be sorting through the rubble to see how many victims were on board.

At least four cars and two storage containers on the ground burned after the helicopter caught fire, which was quickly put out, according to officials. More than 50 firefighters responded to the helicopter crash, according to the fire department.

About two hours before the crash, an SUV slammed into the middle of a city bus, killing at least two people and injuring six others. Photos and videos online showed half of the SUV lodged into the side of an MTA bus.

NBCLA has confirmed the helicopter was NewsChopper4, which is operated by Angel City Air. The outlet said several TV news helicopters were reporting on the bush crash before the news chopper went down about a mile and a half (1.6 kilometers) from the bus collision.

Gov. Gavin Newsom thanked the emergency crews responding to both crashes and said in a post on X that “our hearts are with the victims and families.”

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration said it will be investigating the cause of the helicopter crash and would be sending one of its investigators on Wednesday.

Golden reported from Seattle.

In this still image provided by KABC-TV shows first responders work the scene after a helicopter crashed near a bus crash in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (KABC-TV via AP)

In this still image provided by KABC-TV shows First responders work the scene after a helicopter crashed near a bus crash in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (KABC-TV via AP)

In this still image provided by KABC-TV shows firefighters respond to a deadly bus crash, in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (KABC-TV via AP)

In this still image provided by KABC-TV shows a helicopter that crashed near a deadly bus crash, in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (KABC-TV via AP)

First responders work the scene after a helicopter crashed near a bus crash in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)