SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to enforce a special law next year that will effectively limit the transfer of local wealth owned by North Korean citizens to the communist country, the government said Tuesday.

   The justice ministry said in a preannouncement of legislation that the new law permits family members living in North Korea to demand their share of an inheritance left behind by a family member in the South through legal channels.

   It said, however, that any transfer of funds outside of South Korea must be approved by Seoul, with violators to face criminal charges.

   All wealth acquisitions by a North Korean citizen must also be reported to the South Korean government.

   "The measures that should go into effect in January 2012 reflect the divided nature of South and North Korea and the need to tightly monitor movement of money going to Pyongyang," the ministry said.

   The measures are needed since there have been cases where North Korean citizens have won inheritance suits in court by using a legal representative with such instances likely to go up in the future.

   Seoul has halted most cooperation programs with the North after the sinking of a South Korean warship near the inter-Korean sea border in March, with relations taking a turn for the worse following the shelling of a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea by the communist country in late November.

   Authorities said that there will be a limit imposed on how much money a North Korean relative may demand and that legal precedence will be given to protecting families in South Korea, even if man or a woman who left behind spouses or children in North Korea did not go through proper a divorce process.

   Seoul does not permit bigamy, but because there was no way for a person in the South to know if his family was alive or to make contact, legal protection will be extended for a second marriage that took place in South Korea.

   In addition, the special law will outline that all wealth-related legal suits filed by a North Korea citizen or their representatives must be handled in a South Korean court.

   yonngong@yna.co.kr
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