A South Korean court docket ordered Japan on Friday to compensate 12 girls who had been pressured to work in wartime Japanese brothels, in a ruling that might rekindle diplomatic and historical past feuds between the 2 nations.
Reminders of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule are contentious for either side, with many survivors of “comfort women” — a Japanese euphemism for the intercourse abuse victims — demanding Tokyo’s formal apology and compensation.
Japan says the problem was settled underneath a 1965 treaty that normalised diplomatic ties, and the 2 nations agreed to “irreversibly” finish the dispute in a 2015 deal. But the Seoul Central District Court ordered Japan pay every of the ladies 100 million received ($91,000), saying neither of the pacts can cowl their proper to hunt compensation.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato known as the decision “unacceptable,” urging Seoul to make an “appropriate response”. Tokyo’s international ministry summoned South Korean Ambassador to Japan Nam Gwan-pyo to lodge a criticism.
“It was a crime against humanity that was systematically, deliberately and extensively committed by Japan in breach of international norms,” Justice Kim Jeong-gon mentioned within the ruling.
“Even if it was a country’s sovereign act, state immunity cannot be applied as it was committed against our citizens on the Korean peninsula that was illegally occupied by Japan.”
Some historians estimate as much as 200,000 Korean women and girls had been pressured to supply intercourse to Japanese troops throughout the colonial period, typically underneath the pretext of employment or to repay a relative’s debt.Only 16 registered Korean survivors are nonetheless alive, and 6 of the 12 victims have died since they initiated the lawsuit in 2016.
The girls’s lawyer, Kim Kang-won, mentioned he was “deeply moved” because the ruling acknowledged the Japanese authorities was accountable for the atrocity. South Korea’s international ministry didn’t have fast remark, however Ambassador Nam mentioned in Tokyo that he would attempt to stop the ruling from having an “undesirable impact” on the ties.
“I emphasised that it was most important for both sides to respond in a calm, restrained manner in order to resolve the issue,” Nam instructed reporters after being known as in.
South Korea and Japan, each staunch US allies, are key commerce companions and share different frequent pursuits, together with heading off North Korea’s rising nuclear and missile threats. But relations plunged in recent times as historical past rows flared, particularly after South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered two Japanese companies to compensate some wartime pressured labourers.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in successfully nullified the 2015 settlement, wherein Japan issued an official apology and offered 1 billion yen ($9.6 million) to a fund to assist the consolation girls victims.
