A North Korean defector who claims to have been tortured while detained in the country is suing leader Kim Jong Un and other state officials.
The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, a South Korean group, said it was filing civil and criminal complaints in two separate Seoul courts on behalf of Choi Min Kyung.
Ms Choi fled North Korea for China in 1997, only to be repatriated in 2008.
Once back in her country, she allegedly endured a series of rights violations for five months, including sexual abuse and torture, in a detention facility in the northeastern county of Onsong.
The lawsuits, set to be filed on Friday, would be the first legal action ever taken by a North Korean dissident against the leader and his regime, the rights group said.
Ms Choi announced that she would also file a criminal complaint against four members of the ministry of state security.
“I earnestly wish for this small step to become a cornerstone for the restoration of 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 South Korean group. "As a torture victim and survivor of the North Korean regime, I carry a deep and urgent responsibility to hold the Kim dynasty accountable for crimes against humanity. I am driven by an urgent sense of responsibility to hold accountable those behind the Kim regime's crimes against humanity. I hope this legal action draws domestic and international attention to the issue of human rights in North Korea.”
The group said it planned to take Ms Choi's case to the UN and the International Criminal Court as well.
Ms Choi escaped North Korea for the second time in 2012 and settled in the South. She said she had to take medication for psychological trauma caused by the alleged custodial abuse.
A defector from the North is given citizenship, almost free housing, resettlement money, and other benefits upon arrival in the South. Around 1,000 defectors flee the North each year, according to the South’s unification ministry.
The South Korean government and rights groups have repeatedly warned that defectors who are deported back to the North face harsh punishment, including detention in labour camps where they are subject to dangerous treatment and conditions.
The North rejects allegations of human rights violations, calling them part of a conspiracy to overthrow the leadership.
Pyongyang last year reportedly executed two women who were helping fellow citizens defect from the country after they were captured and repatriated by China.
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