The Japanese government was ordered to compensate the South Korean victims of sex slavery during World War II by an appeal court in South Korea on Thursday.
Overturning the decision of a previous court, the Seoul High Court declared that Tokyo was had to compensate each of the 16 plaintiffs, including the families of those who were sex slaves, with 200 million won (154,000 million dollars).
Citing a state’s protection from civil suits brought by third parties abroad, the lower court dismissed the plaintiffs’ December 2016 damages complaint in April 2021.
The appellate court stated that acknowledging the South Korean court’s jurisdiction over the defendant’s Japanese government would be appropriate in light of customary international law.
Given the defendant’s unlawful actions in organizing the comfort ladies, it was stated that Japan should provide the victims with just recompense.
The term “comfort women” refers to the victims of Japanese colonialism of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 who were coerced into sexual slavery in brothels by the military of Imperial Japan.
Prior to and during the Pacific War, historians claim that hundreds of thousands of Asian women, primarily from China and the Korean Peninsula, were abducted, forced, or tricked into becoming sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers.
