Times Online

TOKYO, June 28, 2012 (AFP) - Japan's top court has authorised the seizure of North Korea's de facto embassy to pay off debts, local media reported on Thursday.
The Supreme Court upheld previous rulings that Japan's government debt collection body can auction off the headquarters of Chongryon, the organisation that represents North Korean interests in Japan in the absence of diplomatic ties.
The Resolution and Collection Corporation (RCC) was demanding repayment of 62.7 billion yen ($789 million) from Chongryon and seeking to impound property as collateral, including the group's headquarters in Tokyo.
The headquarters has been registered under a third party's name, but the top court ruled that the building is in practice controlled by Chongryon and should be considered as its property.
“It is very regrettable,” a spokesman for the North Korean organisation told AFP. “We strongly hope that the issue will be resolved through dialogue.”Asked if the organisation is ready to leave the building when it is auctioned, the spokesman only said: “Nothing has been decided.”With the ruling, the headquarters, which lie in a business district in central Tokyo, can be seized for auction any time if the RCC applies for the seizure and a court approves its application, Jiji Press said.
But it may take several months before a buyer is selected and any transaction is completed, Jiji added.
Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Koreans live in Japan, mostly a legacy of those who emigrated or were forced to move to Japan during its 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.
About 10 percent are believed to be affiliated with Chongryon, which charges that the community is persecuted by authorities and harassed by right-wing activists.
The Tokyo metropolitan government, headed by nationalist Shintaro Ishihara, in 2003 suspended a tax break which Chongryon enjoyed due to the building's quasi-diplomatic status.
Many in Japan view the North Korea with open hostility, a state worsened by the abductions in the 1970s and 1980s of a number of Japanese citizens press-ganged into training Pyongyang's spies in the country's language and customs.
In 2002 North Korea admitted to the abduction of 13 Japanese nationals. It allowed five victims to return to Japan along with their spouses and offspring, but claimed the others had died.
North Korea in turn has insisted Japan must make amends for its 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula.