Seoul, June 25: North Korea has demanded the United States to pay almost USD 65 trillion in compensation for what it calls damage caused by six decades of US hostility.
The cost of the damage done by the United States since the peninsula was divided in 1945 is estimated at USD 64.96 trillion, AFP reported citing the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday.
The compensation amount was calculated on the basis of the number of North Korean civilian casualties during the 1950-53 Korean War, other losses related to the conflict and US sanctions.
The figure includes USD 26.1 trillion arising from US atrocities which left more than five million North Koreans dead, wounded, kidnapped or missing, KCNA reported.
Six decades of US sanctions had caused a loss of USD 13.7 trillion by 2005.
The compensation claim comes on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Pyongyang insists that South Korea and the US initiated the conflict, in which a US-led United Nations force fought for the South and China backed the North.
The war left 1.23 million people dead and 2.46 million others wounded in the North, the news agency said, citing a state committee which assessed the damage.
The fighting left the peninsula in ruins. The North suffered huge damage from US airstrikes.
The agency said the committee’s calculation did not include the damage North Korea had suffered from sanctions after its first nuclear test in 2006.
——–Agencies