Chongryon HQ TokyoThe Tokyo District Court announced that the winning bidder of the foreclosed Chongryon headquarters / North Korean de-facto embassy building was a foreign-owned company called Avar LLC.

The court is now assessing the financial viability of Avar’s 5.01 billion Yen bid and will make an official decision on the sale on October 22.

*Update: The decision deadline was extended for unknown reasons. On October 21, a citizen’s group filed a petition with the district court alleging that Avar is a fictitious company.

The 10-storey building is located on 2,390 sqm block of land in Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku.

This is the second time that the Chongryon building has been put up for public auction. A Kagoshima-based priest bid 4.5 billion Yen for the property in March 2013, but failed to come up with the funds for the purchase. As a result, he lost his 533 million Yen deposit and was prohibited from bidding at the second auction.

Chongryon were also banned from bidding on the property.

So far, very little is known about Avar. NHK News reported that the company was located in Mongolia. There are also rumors that their could be some connection to North Korea so it will be interesting to see whether they let Chongryon continue to occupy the premises.

Sources:
Fuji News Network, October 17, 2013.
The Asahi Shimbun, October 17, 2013.
The Mainichi Shimbun, October 17, 2013.
The Yomiuri Shimbun, October 17, 2013.
Zakzak, October 22, 2013.

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