North Korean Notary Statement Acknowledged

In the case surrounding North Korea’s Donguibogam, a medical book written in the 17th century, whose publication rights are currently being contested, a court has acknowledged the effects of a North Korean notary statement for the first time.

This judgment contrasts with the prosecutor’s, who claims that the court has “no authority to indict” because “there is no confirming the truth of the contract with North Korea.”

The court’s acknowledgement is expected to make an influence on similar cases in the future.

The representative of Yeogang Publisher, Lee, sued 21 well-known professors of oriental medicine, including the representative of a corporate publisher, Kim, and the translating commissioner, Koh, by saying that “the publication rights was infringed upon by the people who published a book that copied Yeogang’s Donguibogam.” In regard to this claim for damage, a district court in Seoul decided in favor of the plaintiff and required the defendant to pay approximately 73 million won to the plaintiff.

The court revealed in the decision that “the Pyeongyang notary office in North Korea notarized Yoon, with whom Lee made a contract, as a deputy of a copyright holder of North Korean Donguibogam in a letter of confirmation on September 2000, although the defendant insists that Yoon has no qualifications for the deputy.”

It added that “the defendant has the responsibility to compensate the plaintiff because 95 percent of Kim’s book is same as the plaintiff’s book and the professors, who took part in the publishing process as translating commissioners, did not translate but just corrected the press or wrote a preface.”

Lee made a contract for the publication of the North Korean Donguibogam in South Korea via a $10,000 agreement with Yoon, vice-minister of Korean-Chinese Culture and Art, and published the book in May 1994. Yoon is the deputy who was entrusted with the power to make a publication contract by a North Korean publisher who is the copyright holder of North Korean Donguibogam.

On the subject of Kim’s publishing the Donguibogam’s textbook with translation in December 1999, Lee to his case to criminal court and made a claim for damages. In the criminal suit, the prosecutor concluded there was “no authority to indict.” However, in the civil suit, the court decided in favor of Lee, concluding that the notary statement was not forged as the result of inquiry made by the Ministry of Unification and the National Intelligence Service.

Soo-Kyung Kim skkim@donga.com