SEOUL, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A South Korean court on Friday ordered the Japanese government to pay compensation to 12 World War II sex slaves or their families, in an unprecedented ruling likely to infuriate Tokyo.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Japan should pay the victims
100 million won ($91,000) each.
It is the first civilian legal case in South Korea against Tokyo by wartime
sex slaves for Japanese troops, who were euphemistically labelled “comfort
women”.
The ruling comes despite a 1965 treaty between Seoul and Tokyo which
declared claims between them and their nationals had been settled.
Imperial Japan was responsible for the “comfort women” system, the court
said in its verdict.
“The plaintiffs, who were in their late teens or early 20s, were subjected
to repeated sexual exploitation,” it said.
“It amounted to an illegal act against humanity and the defendant has an
obligation to compensate the victims for their mental suffering.”
Tokyo and Seoul are both major US allies, democracies and market economies faced with an overbearing China and nuclear-armed North Korea.
But their relations are strained by Japan’s early-20th century colonial
rule over Korea, which is still bitterly resented on the peninsula, and have
plunged to their worst in years under South Korea’s centre-left President
Moon Jae-in.
Mainstream historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea but also other parts of Asia including China, were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II.
Friday’s ruling came in a legal process that began eight years ago and only
five of the original plaintiffs are still alive, the others replaced by
family members.
Tokyo boycotted the proceedings and insists all compensation issues
stemming from its colonial rule were settled in a 1965 treaty and linked
agreement normalising diplomatic relations between the neighbours.
Under them, Japan paid South Korea financial reparations — which Seoul
used to contribute to its transformation into an economic powerhouse — and the document said that claims between the states and their nationals had been “settled completely and finally”.
But the court ruled that the agreement did not terminate the women’s right
to seek compensation from Tokyo, which it said bore liability for their
suffering decades ago.
“I am deeply moved by today’s ruling,” said Kim Kang-won, the women’s
lawyer. “It is the first such verdict for victims who suffered at the hands
of Japanese troops.”
Speaking to reporters after the verdict, he insisted that at the time of
the 1965 treaty, “the issue of comfort women was not discussed at all”.
The Japanese government denies it is directly responsible for the wartime
abuses, maintaining that the victims were recruited by civilians and that the military brothels were commercially operated.
Kim Dae-wol, from the House of Sharing, which cares for the victims, said
that reparations were not a major issue for them.
“Rather, their wish is to have the Japanese government inform its citizens
of the atrocities it committed,” he said.
The dispute has festered despite the treaty, and Seoul and Tokyo reached a
deal in 2015 aimed at “finally and irreversibly” resolving it with a Japanese
apology and the formation of a 1 billion yen fund for survivors.
But Moon’s government declared the agreement reached under his conservative predecessor faulty and effectively nullified it, citing the lack of victims’ consent.
The move led to a bitter diplomatic dispute that spread to affect trade and
security ties.
The same court is due to rule next week on a similar case brought against
Tokyo by another 20 women and their families. — NNN-AGENCIES
