{"id":57213,"date":"2024-01-04T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T22:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minbyun.or.kr\/?p=57213"},"modified":"2024-01-04T07:00:01","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T22:00:01","slug":"joint-press-release-south-korean-ngos-publish-english-and-japanese-translations-of-seoul-high-courts-historic-judgement-holding-japan-for-tortious-acts-against-japanese-military-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.minbyun.or.kr\/?p=57213","title":{"rendered":"[Joint Press Release] South Korean NGOs publish English and Japanese translations of Seoul High Court\u2019s historic judgement holding Japan for tortious acts against Japanese military \u201ccomfort women\u201d victim-survivors (EN\/KR\/JP)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Press Release\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

January 4, 2024<\/b><\/p>\n

The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MINBYUN – Lawyers for a Democratic Society\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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South Korean NGOs publish English and Japanese translations of Seoul High Court\u2019s historic judgement holding Japan for tortious acts against Japanese military \u201ccomfort women\u201d victim-survivors\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Seoul <\/b>(3 January 2024) – South Korean NGOs, including the<\/span> Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan <\/span><\/i>and<\/span> MINBYUN – Lawyers for a Democratic Society<\/span><\/i>, published English and Japanese translations of Seoul High Court\u2019s recent historic judgement in which the court found Japan liable for tortious acts in a lawsuit filed by victim-survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery (\u201ccomfort women”). The Seoul Court\u2019s decision was delivered on 23 November 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Underlying that the international customary law on state immunity is not permanent nor absolute but a legal doctrine that continues to be modified in response to changes in the international order, the Seoul High Court emphasized that several state practices have been found which does not acknowledge the State Immunity for torts committed against a national of a forum state within the territory of the forum state and that \u201cthe international legal system related to State Immunity is being shifted in the direction of protecting the individual\u2019s right to trial.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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This judgement shall be regarded as a cornerstone in achieving the goal of genuine respect for international law and international pacifism, in that it clearly recognizes the legal responsibility of the State of Japan, respects the supremacy of peremptory norms, and moves forward to ensure and implement to the fullest extent possible the values that binding norms of international law are intended to realize. It builds on the ongoing legacy of struggle and solidarity of victims, human rights defenders, and researchers around the world who have worked tirelessly on wartime sexual violence, peace and security, and challenged conventional norms over the past three decades.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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* On January 8, 2021, the Seoul Central District Court also recognized the tort liability of the State of Japan in a lawsuit for damages filed by another group of Japanese military \u201ccomfort women\u201d victim-survivors, and its ruling was cited as one of the grounds for the Brazilian Supreme Court(Supremo Tribunal Federal, STF)\u2019s Changri-La case in which the Brazilian Court recognized exception to state immunity and found tort liability of Germany.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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BACKGROUND\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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The term \u201ccomfort women\u201d refers to hundreds of thousands of girls and women from several Asian countries abducted and forced into sexual slavery prior and during World War II by Imperial Japan\u2019s military.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The issue of Japanese military \u201ccomfort women\u201d remained silenced until the 1990s when \u201ccomfort women\u201d victim-survivors came forward and demanded Japan\u2019s apology and reparations. Despite Japan\u2019s official recognition of its operation of the \u201ccomfort women\u201d system through its Chief Cabinet Secretary\u2019s statement in 1993, reparations or official apologies were not made for individual victims.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The victim-survivors of this case filed a lawsuit to the Seoul Central District Court in December 2016 seeking a legal remedy as a forum of last resort, after failures challenging the State of Japan at courts in Japan and the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n<\/span>Judgement translation<\/b><\/p>\n