South Korea will take legal action if North Korea expands its operations at the shuttered inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex without authorization or confiscates any assets belonging to South Korean companies.

According to Seoul's unification ministry on Wednesday, such an intended measure was included in the 2024 inter-Korean relations development enforcement plan confirmed last Thursday following a panel review.

As of early this month, the North was assumed to be operating over 40 of the 125 South Korean facilities within the Gaeseong complex without the authorization of South Korea.

An official at the ministry said if the North expands its unauthorized operations or if South Korean companies suffer damages due to confiscation of their assets or the North’s abolition of laws and regulations regarding the complex, the government could file a damages suit.

The ministry estimates that the South Korean government and businesses would suffer property rights damages totaling some 400 billion won, or around 293 million U.S. dollars upon the revocation of the Gaeseong complex.