Seoul – South Korea’s wartime sex slaves, euphemistically known as “comfort women”, won their first legal victory against the Japanese government in a historic decision handed down on Friday in Seoul. The Seoul Central District Court ordered the government of Japan to pay damages of 100 million won ($ 91,300) each to the families of 12 women who were forced to work as sex slaves for the Japanese army during the Japanese colonization of Korea.
The court called on Japan to force women – only five of which are still alive – being sex slaves “a crime against humanity”. He said that women were forced into servitude when Japan “illegally occupied” the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945, arguing that the illegality of that occupation means that Japan’s contemporary sovereign immunity cannot protect it from lawsuits.
The case whose decision was handed down on Friday was opened in April last year. The Japanese government was never involved, insisting that the suit should be dismissed on the grounds that “the state is immune from the jurisdiction of a foreign country’s court”.
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The Japanese cabinet’s chief secretary, Katsunobu Kato, said on Friday that Japan would not appeal the decision as it would place the country under South Korea’s jurisdiction.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Japan could not accept the court’s decision, while Kato called it “unacceptable” and asked Seoul to take “appropriate measures” to be rejected.
Japan’s deputy foreign minister, Takeo Akiba, summoned South Korean ambassador Nam Gwan-pyo in Tokyo to present an “extremely strong protest”. Ambassador Nam said he will endeavor to prevent the decision from having an “undesirable impact” on bilateral relations.
Even South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that while respecting the court’s decisions, “the government recognizes the formal agreement of the two governments that was made in December 2015”.
That deal included a formal apology from then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a $ 8.3 million aid fund created by Tokyo for former elderly sex slaves. From Japan’s perspective, the agreement defined the scandal for decades.
The situation of “consoling women” has been a key point of friction between the two Asian nations for more than half a century.
The victims were mainly Korean, but the Japanese army arrested sex slaves in most countries where it had forces based during World War II. There were even British and Dutch women among them.
“We welcome the historic victory that opened a new horizon,” said a victim advocacy group in Seoul, which speaks for the women who filed the lawsuits against Japan.
“The victims have repeatedly testified publicly about the damage and demanded a solution based on a victim-centered approach, but have been repeatedly ignored,” the Korean Justice and Remembrance Council for Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery Issues said in a statement.
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The group, noting that only a handful of victims remain alive, urged the Japanese government to quickly comply with what it said was an obligation to fulfill its “responsibility” and thoroughly investigate the army’s actions and teach a more accurate version of Japan’s history.
Amnesty International Korea also welcomed the court’s decision on Friday, with director Jihyun Yoon calling it an “important decision” and referring in a statement that it was “the first time that a South Korean court has recognized the government’s responsibility Japanese by Japanese military slavery and paved the way to restore justice to the survivors. “
Jihyun asked Japan to “follow the court’s decision and take immediate steps to provide compensation for victims of sexual slavery” and issue a “complete and comprehensive apology to survivors”.