North Korea is demanding billions of dollars in compensation for alleged atrocities against its prisoners of war and spies formerly held in South Korea, a demand which has sparked outrage among politicians in Seoul. There was no official response from the government to the unprecedented demand. But the main opposition party Sunday highlighted the North's own rights record, which often comes in for strong international criticism.The formal damages complaint was filed to the South's human rights commission through a border office Friday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The complaint insisted Seoul compensate former North Korean long-term prisoners for their time in "nightmarish prisons" run by former authoritarian governments in the South. "The physical damage, except mental damage done to them, stands at one billion US dollars even according to a preliminary estimate made by specialists of the DPRK (North Korea) in line with international practice," the agency said on Saturday. "It would come to several billions of US dollars ... if the damage done to all those unconverted long-term prisoners killed in prisons is put together."
But the North Korean demand backfired across the border. The ruling Uri Party, which usually takes a conciliatory line with North Korea, denounced the complaint as "totally against common sense". The main opposition Grand National Party called it "ridiculous". "They should first raise voices for improving human rights conditions in North Korea when they like to talk about human rights," the opposition party said in a statement. A senior unification ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity that "the North Korean complaint is not worth being given any serious consideration."