[PR]
An ex-contractor lawsuit that triggered Japan-Korea relations to become the worst after the war. 30 years have passed since the Korean Grand Court (Supreme Court) ordered Japanese companies to compensate. While the reciprocity of the two countries jumped into the economic and security fields, we summarized the core of the problem, the claims of both countries, and the challenges. (Daisuke Shimizu, Takuya Suzuki)
Korean lawmakers during the war, when the Korean peninsula was under Japanese rule, demanded damages from a Japanese company that once worked. Judgment to pay Won (about 91 million yen) was issued.
There are about 149,000 former recruiters certified by the Korean government. Some have filed similar lawsuits in Japan since 1991. Losing continued in Japan, and in the 2000s, Korea continued a legal battle.
The Court of Justice pointed out that wartime labor was "anti-humanitarian misconduct" associated with colonial rule. It was determined that the matter that the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Agreement was “resolved” does not include the right to claim personal “comfort” for illegal activities.
The Japanese government does not deny that there is an individual claim, but the agreement has resolved this issue between the two countries, and the ruling is "in violation of international law" (former Foreign Minister Taro Kono). A Japanese government official said, “If we accept the new concept of awarding compensation for illegal colonial rule, the agreement will not make sense and litigation will go on endlessly.”
On the other hand, a documentary from a human rights lawyer ...