Japanese court rejects Koreans' demand for wartime compensation
TOKYO: A court on Thursday rejected a suit demanding 60 million yen
($571,000) and a state apology for two South Koreans forced to work in a
Japanese textile plant during World War II, a court official said.
The suit was brought by two Korean women, said Kenji Wada, an official of
the Shizuoka District Court in central Japan. He identified them as Sun
Cho-kap, 70, and Sun Woo-chong, 70.
Wada refused to provide further details, such as whether the two women were
related.
"The court has found the state not responsible to compensate individuals for
illegal deeds of public employees under the old constitution," Kyodo News
agency quoted judge Yoshiko Tanaka as saying in the ruling.
According to a lawsuit, the two from Pusan, South Korea, were sent to Japan
in 1944 at the age of 14 and forced to work long hours at a textile plant in
Shizuoka. They returned home after the war ended in 1945.
During Japan's harsh pre-1945 colonization of Korea, about 240,000 Koreans
were drafted by the Japanese imperial forces and many Koreans were forcibly
brought to Japan to work as laborers.
The two women filed the suit in April 1997, demanding the Japanese
government pay compensation.
Many lawsuits have been filed demanding the government apologize and offer
redress. Tokyo has repeatedly opposed giving out individual compensation in
such cases. (AP)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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