SEOUL, South Korea — The Supreme Court of South Korea has ruled for the first time that North Korean children of a South Korean citizen have the right to inherit their deceased parent’s property, court officials said Thursday.

The verdict set a legal precedent with far-reaching implications on the divided Korean Peninsula, as it opened the way for what could be a flood of similar lawsuits. Millions of Koreans were separated from their families across the border after the peninsula was divided at the end of World War II in 1945, and the border was sealed with the 1950-53 Korean War.

Many of those living in the South died without meeting their children, spouses or siblings in the North again or finding a way to bequeath their fortunes to those living in the impoverished North. There is no telephone, e-mail or letter exchange allowed between the two Koreas.

The decision this week involved a man identified only by his surname, Yoon. A native of North Korea, Mr. Yoon fled to South Korea during the war, traveling only with his eldest daughter and leaving his wife and five other children behind in the North. The wife died in the North in 1997.