A court in the Republic of Korea has awarded millions of dollars in compensation to victims of a fabricated espionage case that took place four decades ago, a court spokesman said on Tuesday.

The Seoul South District Court last week ordered the government to pay a total of 12.55 billion won ($10.7 million) to 72 complainants who are due to receive between 4 million and 1 billion won each in connection with the 1974 Ulleungdo spy case.

At that time, a total of 47 people were arrested across the country, many of them residents from the eastern remote island of Ulleungdo.