News Digest

Kim Jong-un’s aunt sues defectors for claiming she had plastic surgery

The aunt of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has launched legal action against three defectors, claiming they made defamatory statements about her. Ko Yong Suk has filed the defamation suit through her lawyer in South Korea where the three defendants now live. The action is over claims that Ms Ko managed a secret fund for Kim’s late father, Kim Jong-Il, that her father collaborated during Japan’s colonial rule in Korea and that she had plastic surgery after defecting to the US. “The defectors made groundless remarks without really knowing about her life,” her lawyer, Kang Yong-Seok, said.

The defectors made groundless remarks without really knowing about her life.

Ms Ko’s lawyer, Kang Yong-Seok

Ms Ko, who lives in the US after seeking asylum in 1998, looked after Kim Jong-un for several years while he was at school in Switzerland. It is thought unlikely that Ms Ko will travel to Seoul for the court hearing, where she is seeking 60 million won (£34,000) in damages. The three defectors named in the court documents include a former North Korean agent, the son-in-law of a former North Korean prime minister and an ex-diplomat. One of them, An Chan-il, who fled to South Korea in 1979 said he had merely repeated what had been widely reported, adding that he and one of the other defendants planned to file a counter-suit for libel.