South Korea Demands Compensation For Japan's Wartime 'Comfort Women'

South Korea has demanded monetary compensation from Japan, for a group of 16 survivors who were forced to work as "comfort women", which was the term used for sex slaves during World War II. A South Korean appellate court reversed a 2016 ruling of a lower court to dismiss the demand for 200 million won ($155,000) to each victim, citing "sovereign immunity". The latest South Korean demands have caused protests to erupt in Tokyo, as the Japanese government believes this is a "breach of international law."

The impact of Japan's colonial rule of over four-and-a-half decades continues to encumber the Korean peninsula. Bilateral relations between the two US allies have been strained for decades, owing to forced labour and abuse. But leaders, President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have been making efforts to improve their ties.

Women Waiting For Reparations

95-year-old Lee Yong-soo has waited decades for some form of reparations for the years of sexual assault and harassment she endured from the Japanese soldiers during the war. The November 23 South Korean High Court ruling has given the now activist some ray of hope. "I'm grateful. I'm really grateful," she told BBC, as she exited the courthouse.

The court statement reads, "It is reasonable to consider that there is a common international law which does not recognise state immunity for an illegal act... regardless of whether the act was a sovereign act". The court recognised South Korea's sought compensation for acts deemed "unlawful".

'Comfort Women' was the term that Japanese soldiers used to address women who were brought to Japan and forced to work as sex slaves during World War II. Over 4 lakh women and girls, many of them Korean, were forcibly recruited from 1910-45. The chilling effect of Japan's thrall still haunts the survivors, most of whom are over 90 years old now.

The number of surviving comfort women has been reducing with many of them dying from old age, but no amends have been made by the Japanese government even so many decades later. South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is responsible for the recognition and rehabilitation of these survivors. The ministry had registered about 240 surviving comfort women, with very few remaining now.

Activist Lee Yong-soo told the media that she hopes that Japan cooperates soon, and wished that the deceased comfort women were alive to hear the South Korean court's latest ruling.