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The first trial was originally scheduled for this Thursday, but the court hastily changed the date to today (the 7th). As you can see, the victims who have been waiting for a long time said they couldn't understand, saying they were speechless, and civic groups also raised their voices that it was an unfair decision.



Continuing on, this is reporter Jeong Yun-sik.



<Reporter> The



court said that the reason for the sudden advance of the sentencing date, originally scheduled for the 10th, by three days, was because of the calm and stability of the court.



It is said that the outcome of the sentencing was expected to be controversial.



Although the court emphasized that the sudden change of the date of sentencing was not illegal, even referring to the Supreme Court precedent, the victims who waited six years were not convinced.



[Jang Deok-hwan / Secretary General of the Victims of Japanese Forced Labor Victims: It is really incomprehensible to pull the sentence like this so that the parties do not even know it… .] The



reason why the court reached a contrary conclusion from the Supreme Court ruling was because the interpretation of the effect of the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Agreement was different.



Previously, the Supreme Court ruled that the Korea-Japan Claims Agreement was not a negotiation to claim compensation for Japanese colonial rule, and the Japanese government did not recognize the illegality of colonial rule, and that the individual rights of victims of forced labor are not subject to the Korea-Japan Claims Agreement. .



However, this court reached the same conclusion as the minority opinion of the Supreme Court at the time.



According to the Korea-Japan Claims Agreement, 'the rights of victims of conscription are limited'.



However, as the lower court overturned the Supreme Court's judgment after 13 years of long discussion, the court itself was criticized for undermining legal stability.



This judgment made actual compensation even more difficult.



Victims who received a final judgment from the Supreme Court have been proceeding with asset seizure procedures against Japanese companies since 2019.



(Video coverage: Seo Jin-ho, Video editing: Hwang Ji-young)