A South Korean appellate court ordered Japan to compensate a group of 16 women who were forced to work in Japanese wartime brothels, overturning a lower court ruling that dismissed the case and prompting a stern protest from Tokyo.
The legacy of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula remains politically sensitive for both sides, with many surviving “comfort women” – a Japanese euphemism for the sex abuse victims – still demanding Tokyo’s formal apology and compensation.
Bilateral relations between the two US allies have been strained for years by the issues of wartime sex abuse and forced labour, but South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have sought to improve ties.
The 16 victims filed the suit in 2016, seeking 200 million won each in compensation. But the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the case in 2021, citing sovereign immunity, a legal doctrine that allows a state to be exempt from a civil suit in foreign courts.
The Seoul High Court, however, reversed the lower court’s decision, recognising the jurisdiction of South Korean courts over the Japanese government as a defendant.
Tokyo has said the issue was settled under a 1965 treaty that normalised diplomatic relations, and the two neighbours agreed to “irreversibly” end the dispute in a 2015 deal.
In a statement, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said the judgment went against international law and agreements between the two countries, calling it “extremely regrettable and absolutely unacceptable”. — Reuters
