[사회]Compensation lawsuit against Japanese grandmother victims of comfort women, first sentenced this week

[앵커]

The first sentence this week is to be handed down for a lawsuit filed by the victims of Japanese military comfort women in our court against the Japanese government.

It is noteworthy what conclusion our court will conclude against the Japanese government, which has ignored lawsuits under the so-called “sovereignty exemption” principle that one national court cannot judge another.

Reporter Lim Seong-ho reports.

[기자]

Eight years ago, 12 elderly women victims of comfort women in the Japanese military filed an application for mediation in our court for the first time demanding compensation from the Japanese government.

It contains a request to compensate 100 million won for each person, 1.2 billion won for all.

[이옥선 / 일본군 위안부 피해 할머니 (2013년 8월) : 칼 맞고 매 맞고 고통을 많이 받았어요. 그러면 그 사람들이 배상하면 얼마를 주겠습니까. 우리는 10억 원 받아도 모자랍니다.]

The Japanese government avoided service and took time, and in the meantime, Bae Chun-hee and Kim Oe-han passed away.

At the request of the remaining grandmothers, the request for mediation was changed to a formal trial, but the Japanese government continued to remain unconscious.

To make matters worse, the grandmothers had to endure the’Korea-Japan Comfort Women Agreement’, which was engulfed in controversy, and the court administration’s attempts to intervene in the trial.

In the end, the first pleading was held in April of last year.

[김강원 변호사 / 위안부 피해 할머니 소송대리인 (지난 4월) : 아쉽죠. 안 아쉽겠습니까. 변론하는 변호사 입장에선 좀 더 빨리 (재판)했으면 하는 게 솔직한 심정입니다.]

Even after the trial began, the Japanese government has expressed dissatisfaction with the Korean government by raising the theory of exemption from sovereignty.

It is argued that, under customary international law, that acts of sovereignty in one country are exempt from the liability of trial in another country, they have no reason to be tried.

The grandmother’s side confronted the increasing number of cases where the state immunity rule was not applied to anti-human rights acts that trampled on basic rights.

In addition, he argued that if the court dismisses the lawsuit pursuant to the’Sovereignty Exemption Theory’, it would violate the Constitutional Court’s decision that the Korean government should resolve disputes between Korea and Japan.

A court’s first sentence is scheduled for the 8th, and a lawsuit for damages filed by other comfort women victims against the Japanese government is also ahead of the sentence on the 13th.

[이용수 / 위안부 피해자 할머니 (지난달 11일) : 일본이 사죄 배상을 안 하면 우리가 죽고 나면 누구한테 하겠습니까? 이제는 어디에도 믿을 데가 없어요, 오로지 우리 법밖에 없습니다.]

In both cases, if the court gives the hands of the elderly victims of comfort women, it is highly likely that Korea-Japan relations will be crushed again following the Supreme Court’s ruling for compensation for forced mobilization last year.

With the grandmothers appealing that there is really little time left, the attention of the governments of both Korea and Japan is drawing attention on what the court will conclude.

This is YTN Seongho Lim.

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