A South Korean appellate court on Thursday 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.
The legacy of Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 remains politically sensitive for both sides, with many surviving “comfort women” — a Japanese euphemism for people sexually abused — 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 labor, but South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have sought to improve ties.
Photo: AFP
The 16 victims filed the suit in 2016, seeking 200 million won (US$153,133) 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, recognizing the jurisdiction of South Korean courts over the Japanese government as a defendant.
“It is reasonable to consider that there is a common international law which does not recognize state immunity for an illegal act ... regardless of whether the act was a sovereign act,” the appellate court said in a statement.
The court also said the case falls within South Korea’s jurisdiction as the plaintiffs live in the country and sought compensation over the acts that are deemed “unlawful” under its civil law.
Tokyo has said the issue was settled under a 1965 treaty that normalized diplomatic relations, and the two neighbors agreed to “irreversibly” end the dispute in a 2015 deal.
In a statement, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa said the judgement went against international law and agreements between the two countries, calling it “extremely regrettable and absolutely unacceptable.”
“Japan once again strongly urges the Republic of Korea to immediately take appropriate measures to remedy the status of its breaches of international law,” she said.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was looking into details of the latest ruling, without elaborating.
Lee Yong-soo, a 95-year-old activist and victim who also filed the suit, welcomed the decision and tearfully thanked the court for the decision.
“I’m grateful. I’m really grateful,” she said as she exited the courthouse, adding that she wished she was able to share the news and gratitude with some other victims who had passed away.
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS