A South Korean court has announced that a total of 20 former comfort women and bereaved families will be sentenced in April to a trial seeking damages from the Japanese government.
In January, a ruling was finalized to order compensation for other former comfort women, and it is expected that Japan-South Korea relations will further cool down depending on the whereabouts of this trial.
In this trial, 20 former comfort women and bereaved families were "forced to suffer mental and physical pain", and the total amount was about 3.03 billion won against the Japanese government, which is about 2 in Japanese yen. We are seeking compensation for damages of 190 million yen.
The Government of Japan has not attended the proceedings in the position that the proceedings should be dismissed from the principle of exemption from sovereignty under international law, which states that sovereign states are not subject to the jurisdiction of other countries.
In response, the plaintiffs argued at a hearing held in the Seoul Central District Court on the 24th that the principle of exemption from sovereign immunity tends to be restricted for torts, for example, in January. , Listed another court in which the Japanese government was finalized to order compensation for 12 former comfort women.
The plaintiffs also argued that the 2015 Japan-Korea agreement, which confirmed the "final and irreversible solution" to the comfort women issue, was only a political agreement and was not binding.
The court closed the hearing on the 24th and announced that it would hand down the decision on April 21st.
Regarding the January ruling, the Japanese government has repeatedly urged the South Korean government to take appropriate measures to correct the situation of violation of international law, saying that it is absolutely unacceptable.
It is expected that Japan-South Korea relations will further cool down depending on the ruling of this trial.