politics

1,103 South Koreans sue their gov't over wartime labor at Japan firms

21 Comments
By Hyonhee Shin

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21 Comments
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Fair call really.

If South Korea received the funds they should have been distributed a long time ago.

23 ( +24 / -1 )

About time! I've always bemoaned and wondered whatever happened to all that money Japan paid S.K. Seems the laborers haven't seen a yen of it. I'm glad their govt. is getting sued and I hope they finally pay their people. All they've done is reneged on all the deals they've made with Japan.

19 ( +19 / -0 )

Finally some common sense coming out of SK. The SK government owes a lot more than $88k to each of its citizens it stole from. What an absolute disgrace

14 ( +14 / -0 )

This is on South Korea to pay out, Japan already did....

9 ( +10 / -1 )

I predict that this will be thrown out by the SK supreme court stating it is a "Diplomatic" matter in which the court has no power to rule. LoL

7 ( +9 / -2 )

@yorkiebob

They use the word "強制徴用" in Japan and it literally means "forced conscription".  Since the word "conscription" already has a nature of "force", the word "強制徴用" just doesn't make sense so we all should simply say "conscription" instead.  As far as I know, the conscription always had been there in the history even today and it doesn't violate the international law at all, so why would you need to change this simple "conscription" to "forced labor" if their intention isn't to change its meaning itself?  Think about it.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Give it a week and Moon will have turned this around to try and sue Japan, loosely trying to link it up with the "comfort womaen" debate and debacle!

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Under the deal, South Korea received around $800 million in economic aid and loans from Japan in exchange for Seoul considering all pre-treaty compensation issues settled. And the money was spent to rebuild its infrastructure and economy ravaged by the 1950-53 Korean War.

This is only one case of S/Korea using compensation funds to boost their infrastructure. Japan has made several large compensation payments to SK for different atrocities, but the funds were not directed to the victims. I've always said that, SK and japan were very similar. Obviously, the misuse of funds by governments are very similar also.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I'm surprised no Koreans sue their government for being forced to spend two years in the Korean army. The fact that only men are conscripted violates the Korean constitution.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

What a mess. Without quick traffic control, sure you would make double claims

4 ( +5 / -1 )

South Korean government is many shades of black!

The 1965 treaty were Japan paid hundreds of millions of dollars to Korea yet the government kept it all and invested it the way they wanted to.

We paid the workers already and we paid your comfort women in the last deal you sign as Final and Irreversible.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

@showchinmono

S. Korea won't do nothing. Japan already told them what would happen if they touch any Japanese assets In S. Korea. We would return the favor, and the international community would be on our side and the rule of law.

The days where Korea can be nasty towards Japan and get away with it is ending one way or another.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

If there's any justice in South Korea, these so called wartime laborers will be successful. Because it was South Korea government responsible for not passing on the compenstion. Japan has no guilt over this issue. If they lose the case, it is evidence that China is officially controlling the SK government.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Here is an alternative scenario, the present supreme court judges resigns in which Moon appoints another set of justice supreme judges which will kick down this case to the next administration. This way the prior rulings will maintain effect without being affected by this case.Unfortunately for Moon this is basically what Pak did so the next administration would probably arrest Moon and the judges and the cycle starts all over again.

What a banana republic SK is.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Finally some people in South Korea are doing the right thing. Every time South Korea negotiates an agreement with Japan, Japan pays but the intended victims never get the money. The South Korean government needs to stop playing games with it's people and pay them. Even the money that Japan paid for the Comfort Women in the 2015 Agreement, which the South Korean government has reneged on., is still in their hands. Why hasn't that been distributed to the surviving Comfort Women?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

If they lose the case, it is evidence that China is officially controlling the SK government.

Or a Fat boy in North

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Scrote:

Uphill battle on that one across the globe. Many countries have currently, or allow for, male conscription (draft). Further, they tell male recruits to shave head and keep short while female recruits can have flowing locks. Despite equal rights in many countries...global hypocrisy.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Talk is very important between neighbours.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

This is what happen if someone get too much rights in modern time. They all want a piece of the pie that was eaten several decades ago. These new generation just doesn’t appreciate how hard it was to rebuild after a war. When it peace time,people forget and demand more. Sueing their own government because they use it to help rebuild the country. What happen to their pride and being a patriot? Shouldn’t they be happy the money was use for the greater good back then?

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Glad to see you are not whitewashing the term "forced laborers." The Japan Times, terrified of falling out with the Abe administration, now calls them "wartime laborers."

-10 ( +8 / -18 )

The companies involved should pay, not govts.

-14 ( +1 / -15 )

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