By Koh Ewe & Woongbee Lee | BBC News | Reporting from Singapore and Seoul

A North Korean defector is set to file both civil and criminal charges against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, marking the first time a defector born in the North has taken such legal action.

Choi Min-kyung, who fled North Korea in 1997 but was forcibly returned from China in 2008, alleges that she was subjected to torture and sexual abuse while in custody. Her legal complaint, to be filed in a Seoul court on Friday, also names four other senior North Korean officials.

The case is supported by the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), which announced plans to bring Ms. Choi’s case before the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“This small step, I hope, becomes a cornerstone for restoring freedom and human dignity so that no more innocent North Koreans suffer under this brutal regime,” Ms. Choi said in a statement released by the NKDB. “As a survivor, I feel a deep responsibility to seek justice for crimes against humanity.”

Ms. Choi escaped North Korea a second time in 2012 and has since resettled in South Korea. She continues to experience psychological trauma from her time in detention and relies on medication for ongoing mental health issues.

While South Korean courts have previously ruled against the North in civil cases—often awarding damages to South Korean nationals—those judgments have been largely symbolic, as North Korea has never responded to or enforced such rulings.

According to NKDB Executive Director Hanna Song, this new case is significant because it seeks both civil remedies and criminal accountability. “Until now, cases were limited to civil litigation. This parallel approach sends a stronger message,” she told BBC Korean.

Recent rulings have awarded compensation to other victims of North Korean abuse. In 2023, a Seoul court ordered North Korea to pay 50 million won (about $36,000) each to three former prisoners of war. In 2024, the government was ordered to compensate five Korean-Japanese defectors, who were misled into moving to North Korea under a mid-20th century repatriation program.

Though Pyongyang has never acknowledged these cases, advocates say the court rulings offer survivors a sense of validation.

“Victims don’t only want money—they want acknowledgment,” said Ms. Song. “These rulings recognize their suffering and place their experiences into the official historical record.”