A North Korean woman who got married through an online matchmaking site filed a lawsuit to annul her marriage and won the case when she learned of her husband's past history of sexual misconduct.

According to the Korea Legal Aid Corporation on 10 March, the Jeonju District Law ruled that the marriage was "fraudulent" in a lawsuit filed by North Korean defector woman A against her husband.

After escaping from North Korea and entering South Korea in 2016, Miss A met Miss B through an online matchmaking site and continued dating for about three months, and they even got married in March last year.

At the beginning of the newlywed, Miss A noticed something strange in her husband, Miss B.

My husband was wearing anklets when washing and when he slept.

My husband told me that he had been a squatter in the past, and that he had stepped up for juniors he knew and was punished instead.

Suspicious, Miss A brought up her husband's anklet to a government agency agent who visited regularly to ask how she was doing.

It was only after Miss A received an explanation from him that she got a glimpse of her husband's past.

Ms. A looked up the sex offender notification service on the Internet homepage of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

It turned out that the husband was sentenced to eight years in prison more than 3 years ago for special forcible molestation and special robbery rape.

In addition, her husband secretly used Miss A's mobile phone to obtain a card loan of 3 million won.

When this was discovered, my husband abruptly left the house.

In the end, with the help of the Korean Legal Aid Corporation, Mr. A filed a lawsuit claiming 10 million won in alimony along with the annulment of the marriage.

The court ruled that "Miss A would not have decided to marry if she had known about her husband's history of sexual offenses," and that "it falls under 'fraudulent marriage,' which is the reason for annulment of marriage under civil law," and set alimony at 8 million won.

Kim Gun-woo, a lawyer from the Corporation who represented the lawsuit, said, "With the increase in online matchmaking, there are more and more cases in which information about the other party is not accurately disclosed," adding, "In particular, education and support for North Korean defectors and immigrants who are unfamiliar with domestic circumstances should be expanded to prevent mishaps."