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| Bust of the late Chun-hee Bae and the grandmothers who died in the House of Sharing in Toechon-myeon, Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi-do. 2021.1.8/News1 © News1 Reporter Cho Tae-hyung |
The Sankei Shimbun reported on the 8th that the Japanese government is considering filing a Korean court’s ruling for compensation for victims of Japanese military comfort women to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Sankei quoted a government official on the day, saying, “To avoid the Japanese government’s obedience to the Korean jurisdiction, we will not appeal, but will reveal Korea’s injustice in the field of private international law.”
Earlier in the Civil Affairs Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Jung-Gon Kim), in a lawsuit filed against the Japanese government by 12 victims of comfort women including the late Chun-hee Bae on the 8th, “Japan must compensate 12 people including Bae, 100 million won per person “
The Japanese government and the media are in a position that the ruling violates the principle of sovereign exemption established under international law. Exemption from sovereignty is the principle that in international civil proceedings, the state cannot be tried as a defendant in a foreign trial unless the state agrees.
In a similar case to this ruling, Sankei argued that it was in favor of Japan, citing a lawsuit in which an Italian who was forced to work in Nazi Germany during World War II demanded compensation from the German government.
The Italian Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in 2004, judging that sovereignty exemption was not applicable to violations of international humanitarian law. Later, the German government sued the ICJ for violating international law on sovereign immunity and won it in 2012.
At the time, the ICJ decided that in the course of an armed conflict, if a state agency, such as the military, was sued for damaging other countries, the current customary international law was also requesting an exemption.
Shigeki Sakamo, a professor at Doshisha University, a Japanese international law expert, told the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, “The judgment on exemption from sovereignty varies depending on the courts of each country, but the ICJ admitted it in 12 years.” “It is against ICJ precedents representing the basis of international law,” he argued.
However, there are concerns within the Japanese government that the ICJ complaint “may lead to the opponent’s wrestling (the result of getting caught in the opponent’s board),” Sankei said. The Japanese government is planning to examine the contents of the ruling and review the ICJ complaint while looking at the Korean government’s response.
The ICJ is a UN agency for resolving disputes between countries, such as territorial issues, in accordance with international law. Sankei said that there is a possibility that even if Japan filed a lawsuit, the Korean side could reject it, as the trial is conducted based on agreement between the parties to the dispute.
It is reported that the Japanese government is also considering diplomatic measures such as summoning the Japanese ambassador to Korea or temporarily returning to Korea.