In January, the Tokyo District Court rejected the offer by the Mongolian firm, Avar Limited Liability Co., to buy the estate of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, known as Chongryon, for 5.01 billion yen.
The district court at the time said the bid tendered in a second auction of the property was invalid as some documents submitted by the firm were copies rather than originals. Thursday”s decision by the high court means that a third round of bidding will likely be held.
Chongryon, which acts as North Korea”s de facto embassy in Japan in the absence of diplomatic ties between the two nations, still can use the headquarters.
In 2012, the district court decided to auction Chongryon”s headquarters as demanded by the Japanese government-backed Resolution and Collection Corp., which is owed about 62.7 billion yen by Chongryon following the collapse of financial institutions in Japan for pro-North Korean residents.
In the first auction held in March 2013, the Saifuku Buddhist temple in Kagoshima Prefecture won the bidding to acquire Chongryon”s 10-story head office with two basement floors and its 2,387-square-meter tract of land in central Tokyo”s Chiyoda Ward.
But the Saifuku temple, whose chief priest Ekan Ikeguchi is known to maintain close ties with senior officials of the North Korean government and Chongryon, failed to pay the bid price by the deadline and was eliminated in the second round of bidding.
Avar Limited Liability was one of two parties to file bids in the second round in October 2013. The company filed an appeal with the Tokyo High Court against the district court decision in January.
