According to a report by South Korea’s Chuo Daily on the 11th, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun quoted senior government officials on the 10th to report that the Japanese government is considering suing the compensation judgment of comfort women victims made by the Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands.
On the 8th, the Central District Court of Seoul, South Korea, ruled on the case of 12 “comfort women” claiming compensation from the Japanese government, requiring Japan to pay 100 million won (about 590,000 yuan) to each plaintiff.
This is the first time that a South Korean court has ruled on a compensation lawsuit brought by a South Korean “comfort woman” to the Japanese government. The judgment of the South Korean court was opposed by the Japanese government.
The Japanese government refutes the judgment of the Korean court on the basis of the principle of sovereign immunity in international law.
The South Korean court held that the collection of comfort women is an organized anti-humanitarian crime committed by a country, which belongs to the category of “jus cogens” above international regulations, and does not apply the principle of sovereign immunity of the state.
Citing previous precedents, the Central Daily reported that in 2004, when the Italian Grand Court heard the claim against the German government by Luigi Perini, who was forced to perform hard labor in Germany during World War II, the same logic as the South Korean court ruled that the plaintiff was in favor of the case, that the German government was responsible for the victim.
The “Perini case” of liability.
After that, the German government filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice, claiming that the judgment violated the principle of sovereign immunity of States, and the International Court of Justice finally ruled in favor of Germany.
However, even if Japan brings this issue to the International Court of Justice, if the Korean government refuses to respond, the relevant case will still not be opened.
Because South Korea did not accept the “compulsory jurisdiction” clause of the International Court of Justice, it does not need to accept it unconditionally when it is prosecuted by another country.
Japan accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in 1958.
