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© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Seoul court rejects slave labor claim against 16 Japanese firms
By KIM TONG-HYUNG SEOUL, South Korea©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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Falco
Japan has already paid and apologized multiple times. South Korea needs to get over the past and focus on more current issues, like their nuclear-armed neighbor to the north.
Coffee
South Koreans are indoctrinated into believing they are still owed something over what happened seventy years ago. They are so obsessed with victimizing themselves that they set themselves on fire at protests, tried to make it mandatory to put stickers in classrooms that say “This device was made by a war criminal”, and indoctrinate their children to hate Japan. As a child, I grew up with my own parents constantly reminding me of what Japan did seventy years ago as if it happened yesterday.
Such behavior is self-righteous, self-harming, and makes me ashamed to be Korean.
Michael Jun Sung Shim
Excellent news. Now Korea can do business with Japan.
viking68
The court determined that Japan had already settled its commitments.
The plaintiffs need to speak with the S Korean government to get their share of the settlement.
Laguna
Good decision by the Korean court. There is a point underwhich a line must be written: When elephants fight, it's the grass that gets trampled. Many of my Japanese students love Korea, and Korean is a favorite among foreign languages, mostly due to the culture.
Fighto!
Koreans need to move on and drop this hate against Japanese. Getting so tiresome reading about things that happened 80 plus years ago.
Fighto!
Sorry, it doesnt work like that. Japanese consumers have long memories.
Boku Dayo
Enough of the "victim mentality". Move on, Korea.
vanityofvanities
They do not listen to Japan but they have to listen to U.S.
Bob Fosse
I hope this is sincere this time.
Michael Jun Sung Shim
The rise of Chinese military power could be the reason why there is Korea-Japan-U.S.A. military alliance.
noriahojanen
Quite reasonable.
Letting other posters discuss key critical points, I only point out that the 1965 pact is mutually binding for both sides; meaning that the Japanese plaintiff can't directly sue the South Korean government on unsettled issues. For instance, Japanese expats/settlers in the Korean peninsula were forced to leave their properties subject to seizure right after the war. The postwar Japanese government hasn't reclaimed them while they compromised largely during the normalisation negotiation process.
If South Korea nullifies the 1965 agreement, they would face backlash of legal actions from Japanese nationals and legal entities over seized properties whose amount is estimated to be much larger than the one demanded by the Korean forced labor plaintiff. Note that this has nothing to do with the war outcome or to which side you belonged. The postwar Germany reclaimed properties located in formerly occupied foreign territories such as Poland or Czechia. Their properties have been returned or equivalent amounts repaid.
jeancolmar
The South Korean government really caved in.
Anyway, I do hope against hope that the vitriolic anti-Korean rhetoric I've witnessed will now go away.
kennyG
Surprise!!. Not only the X-day scheduled on 6/10 was upfronted to today but completely flipping over AGAIN the previous judgement, and this time the one by S.Korean supreme court's one.
At this point, I don't know where South Korea is heading? Saner or insaner.
I wish to hear Korean and ethnic Korean's thoughts like from Samit basu or Tommy, SJ , who insisted, unlike Japan, the separation of powers in Korea as a more advanced country than Japan is solid. smithinjapan is also welcomed
Otherwise this post
Yohan
The only problem I see is that this lawsuit will continue, appeal up to the Supreme Court and it will take again a few years to a final decision, which could be exactly the opposite to what the Seoul Central District Court was ruling this week.
I often think, this mentality of 'blaming Japan for all and everything' is done on purpose to distract both - North and South Korean people from their own most serious local problem - the openly hostile relationship between North- and South Korea and the failure of both, North and South politicians to find a solution.
kennyG
For those who may not know. The plaintiffs of SK supreme court verdict were not compulsory recruited. They applied for the jobs. These ones against 16 Japanese corps this time are the same. And not to mention, there has been not such process at all for fact findings in South Korean greatest justice. Neither Japanese corps as defendants nor judges did not even check each identifications. This is just like South Korea had officially registered self-proclaimed old women who claimed " I was a comfort women " as the official victims owning victim rights.
Peeping_Tom
And suddenly there was silence.
No point kicking a mangy dog while it is down.
kennyG
I think it is not just US pressure, there are brave fair Koreans who are trying to charge all those ugly disgusting liars under Chong Dae Hyup for the serious crimes
Commodore Perry
What is missed is the fact that companies like the defendants were never absolved from their wrongdoings; just from having to pay for them.
Mark
""compensation issues were settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing relations between the two nations that was accompanied by hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid and loans from Tokyo to Seoul.""
Obviously these people GOT STIFFED by the SK government and never received a dime, if they did, they would not still be demanding compensation one would think.
kenshin_u
In the first place, the Korean complainants are a bunch of fraudsters, just like the comfort women.
The Koreans are unable to provide any evidence that they were subject to recruitment, and their claims are based on their own delusions. Since Japan has a list of conscripts, if Koreans submit their names at the time (their Japanese names at the time of their service), the Japanese side can confirm whether they are the conscripts or not, but Koreans do not want to submit the relevant documents, nor do they disclose their memory-based names.
Similarly, a Korean who testified that he was conscripted on Gunkanjima was asked by a Japanese of the same age to provide his name at the time so that he could be checked against his own school register, but the Korean refused. There were only a few children in the same grade on Gunkanjima at that time, and it would be easy to confirm if we knew their names.
Even Koreans living in Japan who spent time with them at the time pointed out that their claims were full of lies.( https://youtu.be/-HPw5tPYjQA )
noriahojanen
Last week there was another remarkable judgment from the Korean court; the forced labor statue, a sacred symbol and target of worship by anti-Japanese campaigners (plus big source of business income for mass produce and global installment) is most likely to be modelled after a Japanese worker. What a mishap! :)
「徴用工象徴する像、モデルは日本人」に真実相当性…韓国の裁判所が認定
https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/20210601-OYT1T50254/
itsonlyrocknroll
Is this a stage managed, U Turn?
The very definition of a political bridge-hand?
Another orchestrated maneuver only to pull the rug from under the J people on appeal?
Any Government that has the influence to arbitrarily scatter 85 plaintiffs under every moving object is utterly. ruthless.
I may agree with the Judge conclusion.
However look hard enough Moon Jae-in is pulling the strings.
kennyG
Easy to say for you maybe, but such rhetoric simply got built by the angers toward hypocrites, liars, ignorant bystanders who've been blaming Japan and been causing this much of waste of time and resource , especially TRUST between two countries for this length of period.
Samit Basu
Don't get your hopes high.
This is the same judge that ruled against comfort women damages suit case, which contradicts with the previous ruling of the Korean supreme court.
Of course both of his rulings will be overturned at the supreme court.
kaimycahl
After all these years the only people who suffered were the women whom bodies were used. The only people who benefited where the men who got their satisfaction. The ending result was nothing but painful memories, denials, then compensation and apologies of the years. Its ok to forgive but you should never forget. With forgiveness you can move on. I think this ruling is a sign of moving on!
Samit Basu
@kaimycahl
No, this is a one-man crusade against the judicial establishment, which will be overturned once it reaches the Supreme Court but this judge wanted to make his voice heard.
Michael Jun Sung Shim
This court verdict could lay the foundation for a rare moment of reconciliation between Japan & Korea.
obladi
if your parents were enslaved by [insert any country], I think it is totally reasonable to hate the government of that country, especially if the sitting government are in denial of the war crime.
So, while the court's decision may be legally correct, the feelings of anger by the plaintiffs are understandable.
Michael Jun Sung Shim
The state of conditions of Korea-Japan ties depends heavily upon the U.S.-China ties.
Samit Basu
@obladi
No it's not, because it contradicts the prior ruling of the Korean supreme court.
2018 : Korean supreme court finds in a lawsuit brought by four former-forced laborers that the right to seek damages for the criminal activities of Japan was not terminated by the 1965 Basic Treaty and awarded damages to four forced laborers.
2021 : As more damages lawsuit cases filed by former comfort women and forced laborers reached his desk, a lone lower court judge overrules the verdict of the supreme court, claiming that the right to seek damages is covered by the 1965 Basic Treaty.
proxy
Hopefully Suga can take advantage of this opening and work towards a strong long term unreserved partnership with South Korea. Wide open trade and travel like the EU would benefit both countries.
oldman_13
Good!
Finally an entity in South Korea that has common sense.
Now back to the pathetic "Boycott Japan" nonsense;
kennyG
Lol So did a chief judge of SK supreme court want his sensational voice heard, who retired right after 2018 ridiculous verdict .
if your parents were enslaved by brokers and comfort stations owners, deceived, tricked all by fellow Koreans, I think it is totally reasonable to hate the South Korean government itself, especially if the sitting government kept hiding what they had discussed in 1965 and had spent all those money somewhere else despite which was paid by Japan for each one of them. And other those victim by own fellow Koreans, all of them are just LYING.
YuriOtani
It will be over ruled by a higher court.
kennyG
Can you just just believe? South Korean justice has never fact-checked who these self-proclaimed victims are, what their experience were. So was officially registered comfort women. It was all self-declaration system which was why SK has never disclosed it to Japan.
Karthikmg
This kind of begging should stop. It is a disgrace to the country & the people. High time to move ahead.
oldman_13
And yet another example of the perpetuation of the absolute falsehood that the government of Japan has 'never' apologized or continues to 'deny' its past wartime crimes. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm not going to list as I have multiple times previously the numerous official apologies the government of Japan has given to South Korea. Nor do I need to detail the two official apologies and compensation offered to the comfort women themselves by the government of Japan (the one in 2015 was unceremoniously negated by the deranged president Moon on a whim, and much of the money was never properly accounted for and to this day its whereabouts is unknown). A random offensive statement by a Japanese politician here and there does nothing to change that fact.
Strangerland
The problem is that the governments of Japan and South Korea made a good-faith effort to negotiate what both countries agreed was a "final and irreversible" agreement to the problem, then SK ripped it up, never proposed an alternative, and continues to whine that Japan hasn't fixed the problem.
SK are the ones who reneged on the agreement, then whine without saying what it is they think is fair.
Hard to have any sympathy for the country and their people. I do feel sorry for the Korean women though who are being used as tools by which the anger of the Korean people can be directed, rather than actually having their country trying to negotiate a solution at the end of these poor ladies lives.
kokoro7
It was the right decision by the judge, but agree it is a temporary measure which will likely be overturned higher up.
Interesting that this is an AP article, which vainly tries to say that this wasn't possible under Trump, but is possible now under Biden. Ah, the vagary. It is precisely because Biden is so weak that SK now realizes they'll have to be nice and play with others to resist the elephant in the room - - China. Biden and his son, Comrade Hunter, are currying favor with China, so SK can either go it alone or be a reliable partner in the US-Japan-SK partnership.
kenshin_u
The Korean is also giving false testimony in this article.
( http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/747613.html )
The part of his testimony that seems to be true
In 1940, his father was working at the Yawata Works.
in 1942, his mother joined his father with their four children.
he was born in 1943.He says that his mother found his father, but that's a lie. It is too strange for a mother to take her four children on a journey to look for a father whose whereabouts she does not know.
It is also a lie that his father was treated badly. If his mother had come to look for him herself, would the Japanese who did the horrible things he described guide them? Furthermore, who would pay for the living expenses of a family of six? Is it the Japanese who would do the terrible things he says?
This alone is enough to show that it is a complete lie.
By the way, the requisition order was issued in 1944, so it is obvious that his father was not forced to work in 1940, but came to work on his own.
What's more, I'm sure a Japanese midwife assisted in the birth of his baby and took care of the food for his four children.
SJ
Judges are not perfect. The judge is infamous for strange verdicts, which surprised other judges. For example, https://news.joins.com/article/21143383 (in Korean)
Let's wait to see what the higher court will rule.
Commodore Perry
Interesting how people here do not realize this was a lawsuit against private Japanese companies lies, and not the government of Japan.
At the same time, people here are whining how private Japanese companies are the ones behind the push to hold the Olympics, out of greed.
Japan as the victim!
Yohan
I think, he is serious about that, more serious than ever before.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is not a bad person, but he was always dreaming, as a Northener himself, to create a friendly relationship with North Korea. Even divided and ruled as two different countries, if fully co-operating, 52 million people from the South, and 28 million people from the North, 'Unified but divided Korea' might become a very powerful economic power and a serious competition for Japan.
I think he is now very disappointed. The beginning was so promising, but now after some years trying hard to find a dialog between South and North Korea, between China and USA behind North and South Korea, he has to admit, the result of all what he tried is zero. Nothing at all.
What can he do now? He tries again to talk with Japan, obviously still the better neighbour. That's more or less the only option left over to go for him.
It's not easy to be a politician in South Korea...
YuriOtani
Yet I think Moon will have a fit over the ruling. I just see nothing good coming out of that country. I have enough faith issues with Japan and the USA. There is at least a chance the right thing will be done.
Antiquesaving
Does anyone outside Korea believe a much of anything these people say.any did work they were at the time Japanese citizens and like the rest of the Japanese had to work where or on what they were told and paid for it at the same going wages as other Japanese. The same for the so-called comfort women many were actually handed over by their own families.
If they were forcibly taken then one would expect once freed their families would have been happy even relieved to get them back alive, but in fact these women even admitted their families rejected them for decades (that is until they realised they could maybe get money). Passing on a female to someone else for money vwas not uncommon in those days even during the Korean war the USA military had to issue a warning that USA service men were not to pay families that offered their daughters to then as servants ( the service men called them Moose which was derived from the misunderstanding of the Japanese word "module" meaning daughter) a moose was to serve her master (aka the GI) on all capacities he required. This was practice was not only reported by USA military but many of the UN member countries military that participated in the Korean war.
The Koreans themselves were far more brutal to their own people than the Japanese ever were.
quercetum
Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries were guilty of practicing forced labor. This is something both the Japanese and Koreans have no disagreement. Is this correct?
The article does not give information regarding whether the claim of forced labor is true or not but only that compensation and settlement have been reached.
TrevorPeace
This is getting boring beyond boring.
Desert Tortoise
Two cities nuked to a cinder, more cities firebombed, hundreds of thousands of civilians dead, their navy and air force mostly non-existent by wars end isn't enough absolution for you? The Allies bled Japan white by the end of that war. Does every living Japanese citizen have to bow to the Koreans and empty their wallets for them When is enough enough? The war was over almost 76 years ago and the Koreans signed a peace treaty with Japan in 1965 setting "for all time all wartime claims and reparations.
kennyG
No. It is not correct at all.
Like I posted a few times, There have been no such fact-finding legal process based on the evidence, cross checked by judge/defendants for both wartime labor issues and comfort women issues. Only testimonies of
self-proclaimed victims and their families.
Alan Harrison
Two cities nuked to a cinder, more cities firebombed, hundreds of thousands of civilians dead, their navy and air force mostly non-existent by wars end isn't enough absolution for you? The Allies bled Japan white by the end of that war. Does every living Japanese citizen have to bow to the Koreans and empty their wallets for them When is enough enough? The war was over almost 76 years ago and the Koreans signed a peace treaty with Japan in 1965 setting "for all time all wartime claims and reparations.
Two cities were damaged but are now thriving, and one city (Tokyo) was bombed. (Now thriving). Thriving because the Allies invested in Japan giving Japan a new constitution and rather than bleed Japan, prosphered Japan's Self Defence Force. Incidently no living Japanese citizen has ever had to bow to the Koreans and empty their wallets for them, and incidently thousands of civilians died in many countries diring the war which ended almost 76 years ago.
InspectorGadget
This says alot. He expected the court to side with the South Koreans plaintiff's regardless of the actual rule of law, but then is unwilling to acknowledge his own government cheated them out of compensation with a backroom deal in 1965
Wolfpack
The South Korean government settled with Japan over 50 years ago. The war is over. I know that with BLM, White privilege, and neo-Marxism being all the rage these days that the highest possible social status in the modern world is to be a victim. But you can’t move forward if you are always allowing yourself to be held down by the past. Too much of the world whether it be in the West Bank, Minneapolis, or S. Korea need to deal with their past by accepting that those days are over and move on. Failure to do so is a dead end of animosity and vitriol that is self destructive.
Desert Tortoise
Unlike the nations that lost WWII, blacks and other minorities in the US continue to be held back by deep seated white racism. Don't tell me it doesn't exist because too many of my neighbors are openly anti-black, use the N word and tell me they wish all the N words would "just go back to Africa where they belong". That is the reality in America, that is what whites say today in America and why Black Americans still have to fight for their rights as human beings.
Commodore Perry
Build those statues!
gaicuckojin
There might actually be hope SK after all
Bobby
South Korea is trying to impeach a judge who said he would uphold international law just because he didn't agree with their "feelings". This is indeed a nation of "feelings. As a result of appealing to the anti-Japanese sentiment of the people, even the government has lost control of the situation. President Moon Jae-in is hoping for a G7 summit, but the U.S. has denied any plans for a Japan-U.S.-ROK summit.
Falco
As part of the 1965 agreement, Japan gave South Korea $300 million in economic aid, $200 million in loans, and $300 million in loans for private trust. Incidentally, part of the money was meant for the war victims, but Park Chung Hee instead used it to fund the chaebols, benefitting the entire Korean economy.
kennyG
Yes. But not the present value of $amount given, Technology licensing including face-to-face training of Korean industries to grow for this country to stand alone in unstingy manner, all those genuinely-hearted good-will ( because they used to be once fellow Japanese) been splendidly betrayed. That is it!! and that is the difference between South Korea and Taiwan.
If they breach 1965 treaty, so should Japan.
itsonlyrocknroll
Politically Moon Jae-in is pulling out the gang plank.
I am sorry, Suga san is not the foreign policy firework display one could associate with Abe san.
Suga san, is no match for Moon Jae-in. I am not being rude or disingenuous.
Think of the phase “come bearing gifts”
This strategy has been politically thought through.
It is a Trojan Horse.
SJ
Among various reports from the Japanese media, this article in Japanese looks the most accurate in analyzing the current status of the Korean courts. The writer seems to know better than most Koreans in Korean political issues.
https://weekly-economist.mainichi.jp/articles/20210608/se1/00m/020/067000d
Desert Tortoise
You are seeing the value of an independent court system.
Desert Tortoise
I would think that is probably a good thing?
Desert Tortoise
Is there an English language version I may read? Thanks.
Strangerland
The problem is, the Koreans are still whining about this issue, even though they haven't even made any demands as to what they want. They did one time come up with a "final and irreversible agreement", but then South Korea ripped it up. While that's their right, Japan made a good-faith effort to solve the problem, and Korea walked away without proposing anything in it's place, or even listing any demands whatsoever. Instead they just keep whining.
Desert Tortoise
That is not the case. The judge is being impeached for, as the senior judge of a court, interfering in cases being head by other judges. Judge Lim was indicted on charges of exerting his influence as a senior judge in 2015 on a libel suit filed by the government against a Japanese journalist who questioned then President Park Geun-hye's whereabouts at the moment of the deadly sinking of the ferry Sewol the previous year. Lim allegedly pressured the judge in charge of the case to proclaim, far ahead of the final ruling, that the report by the Japanese journalist -- Tatsuya Kato of Sankei Shimbun -- was fraudulent and to reprimand him in the verdict. Kato was found not guilty in the end. Lim also allegedly asked a judge to rewrite a sentencing statement on left-leaning lawyers charged with illegal demonstrations and stepped in to mitigate penalties on two professional baseball players involved in illegal overseas gambling. Nothing at all to do with anybody's hurt feelings.
virusrex
The whole thing is being dealt very strangely by the Korean law system, almost as if the law was not the first priority to decide things. Going back and forward like this looks terrible from overseas and can make people think the courts are being manipulated for political reasons. Maybe they should put in order their system first and then deal with serious international issues later.
Samit Basu
@Desert Tortoise
The article says Korean judges have absolute freedom as to how they render verdict and this is reflected in chaos of conflicting trial outcomes based on political leaning of judges, and the final call is made by the Supreme Court, which already decided in 2018 that Japanese state and companies were not protected by the 1965 treaty.
Separately, currently serving appellate judges who analyzed the verdict for press concluded this judgement will be overturned at the Supreme Court because it was based on political and diplomatic reasoning which has no place in a court verdict, rather than legal reasoning. It is as if this judge wrote his verdict to be overturned by appellate court and get his hand off similar cases.
Strangerland
I was in agreement that Japan owned an apology, until Korea made it clear they have no interest in solving the issue by ripping up the "final and irreversible agreement" without proposing anything as a replacement.
Korea's actions make it very clear they only want this issue as a bat to hammer Japan with, rather than actually seeing any kind of justice or recompense for the comfort women.
Samit Basu
@Strangerland
Moon administration already did that.
1) A new apology statement that explicitly states the guilt of Imperial Japanese military high command ordering the forced conscription of comfort women. Abe statement DID NOT acknowledge that Imperial Japanese high command ordering the forced conscription of comfort women; rather Abe stated in Abe statement that Japan's responsibility was that of a moral one where crime took place in territory under Japan's occupation, but Japanese state had nothing to do with it.
2) There is actually no demand for new compensation; rather Japan change the name of already paid fund from donation to apology compensation(謝罪金). Yup, Abe called 2015 payment a donation.
Strangerland
Did it?
Desert Tortoise
Thank you Samit
Desert Tortoise
I guess Korea is different but in the US the Equivalency Clause of the US Constitution makes a signed treaty that has been ratified by the US Senate a Federal Law that is enforceable by the courts.
Commodore Perry
Desert TortoiseToday 08:28 am JST
The Constitution makes it the law, or the Senate makes it a law enforceable by courts? Federal laws made pursuant to the Constitution are the law of the land under the Supremacy Clause.
kennyG
The judge's stance is rather similar to minority opinions within 2018 SK supreme court ruling.
His verdict based on how he reads 1965 treaty (which is different from the said supreme court verdict), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, and estoppel doctrine, those are all pure legal consideration.
It doesn't matter how and what he referred to other topics which seemed being considered too political or diplomatic
elephant200
Far from over! Japan is doing every attempt to evade the responsibility of causing the suffering to neighbour countries! Japan owed sincerely apology to all victims! Go for it! That court was run by traitors!
Bobby
There is a law called the "National Emotional Law" in South Korea. It's above the Constitution.
Also known as the "Coercion Law"...
Korea is a country that is far from the rule of law, with all kinds of special laws running rampant.
Hiroshi13
Maybe their own government should pay the settlement since they're the ones who signed the 1965 Treaty?
Hiroshi13
@Desert Tortoise Your hillbilly neighbors = "the reality of America"?
SJ
@Desert Tortoise Today 03:01 am JST
Is there an English language version I may read? Thanks.
I think Google Translate is not so bad: https://translate.google.com/
ReynardFox
In this case, I think - legally speaking - this was the right choice. Japan did give large amounts of aid to Korea in the treaty and unfortunately, the dictator at the time squandered it.
Morally, however, it’s hard to view Japan positively. Even if these companies and the Japanese government aren’t legally responsible, they are certainly morally responsible. And sadly, for ever my Japanese politician who has expressed apologies (as an individual citizen, of course), there are just as many who are saying there is nothing to apologize for. It’s not that Japanese politicians haven’t apologized, it’s that OTHER Japanese politicians undermine those apologies before the ink is even dry, which makes such apologies appear insincere, even if expressed with sincerity by the person giving them.
Bobby
Whenever they get a decision that suits them, they say, "We can't do anything because of the separation of powers. And when a decision that is not in their favor is issued, they try to impeach the judge who issued the decision.
That is the Korean people.
Please become a nation governed by law soon.
kennyG
South Korea cannot live without Japan, either way. You know what I mean.
It could have been better off if the peninsula was entirely China or Russia to make all simple and straight.
YuriOtani
This is just a single court in Korea. If this stands after all of the apeals then it is a change for the better.