According to SBS coverage, it was confirmed that the judges in the case of compensation for damages from forced labor under Japanese colonial rule were recently replaced one after another, in which an application for challenge was filed saying that the justice of a judge from Kim & Chang, a former law firm, was questioned.
In September and October, the Seoul Central District Court reassigned the case for compensation for forced labor, which had been tried by Judge Lee Gyu-baek, who was the only civil 96 independent judge and Kim Sang-geun, who was the only judge for the 86 civil division, to different courts in September and October.
As for the former family members of the victims of forced labor, who previously filed a lawsuit against Japan Steel, etc., the fairness of the trial will be shaken as Judge Lee, who is the judge in charge, worked as a lawyer at the Kim & Chang law firm representing Japanese companies from 2003 to 2017. In September last year, he filed an appeal against the judge.
The court then reassigned the court in charge to Judge Kim Chun-soo, the 27th independent civil civil affairs judge, and dismissed the appeal on the 1st, saying "there is no benefit."
Jeon's representative criticized this, saying, "There was a lot of room for it to be seen as a belated action and a kind of caring."
A court official said, "The decision was made at the request of the relevant court that there is a risk of misunderstanding the appearance of fairness." "There are no procedural problems."
In the midst of this, another victim of forced labor, Park Mo, and judge Kim Sang-geun, the 86 sole judge of the civil court in the case of compensation for damages against Nihon Coke Industrial Co., Ltd., was also reassigned to the 31st civil judge Yoo Ji-hyeon at the end of last month for the same reason.
Park's representative said, "Judge Kim has been working at Kim & Chang for more than 10 years since 2006.