Never Repenting Japanese Government Committed Human Right Infringement Once Again

 A series of lawsuits filed against the Japanese government by elderly Korean 'comfort women', a term referring to those who were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers during the World War II, have recently been lost, thus drawing severe criticism from the victims and related civic organizations. Moreover, a Japanese appeal court recently reversed the only previous ruling that took side with those victims, sending shock waves across the nation and its neighboring countries. 

 On 29th of last month, the Hiroshima appellate court reversed the previous ruling on the case of compensation for the comfort women and other Korean women who were forced to labor during the war, citing "the Meiji Constitution (when the sex slavery took place) is different from the current constitution, and therefore the current government has no obligation to take deliberate responsibility". 

 Back in 1992, the Simonoseki sub-district court under the Yamaguchi district court handed down the ruling that the Japanese government's failure to deal with the issue by introducing a proper legislation can be identified as an illegal act of inaction, and therefore the government should pay 300,000 in compensation for the plaintiffs. 

This was only a partial victory for the comfort women since the ruling failed to recognize the need for the government to issue an official apology as well as the damage done to the female laborers. As a result, the ruling was appealed by both the Japanese government and the plaintiffs. 

On the 26th of the month, it took only one minute for the Tokyo district court to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Korean victims of the Asia-Pacific War to seek compensation, on the ground that the international law doesn't recognize an individual's right to claim compensation from a national government. All these lawsuit followed the case filed in 1991 against the Japanese government by the late Kim Hak-sun, the first person to bring to light severe sufferings of the comfort women. 

Yang Mi-kang, a manager of a council set up to take measures for comfort women, said, "Many Japanese lawmakers have recently showed their will to deal with the issue. In particular, the Social Democratic, Democratic and Communist Parties have recently drafted a single legislation on issues relating to the Japanese governments apology and compensation for comfort women". 

With the lawsuit filed by Korean-Japanese Song Sin-do (an ex-comfort woman) dismissed last September, all of the three lawsuits brought by Korean comfort women in Japan were lost. This is a reconfirmation that the Japanese Justice Department is still conservative and the government still refuses to repent of its past wrongdoing.

reported by  Lee Kim Jung-hee ,  jhlee@womennews.co.kr    

 On the 23th last month, the Suwon local court ruled against five women from Lee family originated in Yong-in who claimed the right to the ownership of the property belonging to Lee clan in a lawsuit against the clan authorities. 

 The judge said, the clan rules stipulate that all adults are entitled to be its members, but considering the nature and traditional practices of this group, it is hard to interpret that such clause is intended to include women as its members. Despite the ruling, the plaintiffs, who are married women, are firmly determined to fight against the clan authorities, arguing that it revised the clan membership qualifications without the presence of female members. 

 Previously, all adults regardless of gender could become the clan members, but the changed clause limits its membership to male adults. To the plaintiffs, it is unfair to be denied the right to family property just because they are married to other families when even sons aged under 20 or daughters-in law are entitled to.

 Baehee Gwak, head of a family affairs law institute said, “In the past, contribution to the clan community was one of the considerations in allocating its property, but this time it was equally distributed to all male members. This shows that its operation follows the changes of the times, but applying discriminatory principles to married women is something that goes against the times.”   

 Joohyun Park, a lawyer, pointed out that the clan should grant equal membership to women and work together with women in order to justify its existence. Sticking to anachronistic and unfair practices not only compromises the spirit of the law, but hampers the growth of a society. 

 Wonsun Park, a lawyer and famous advocate for civil rights, contends that the case hurts the equal rights guaranteed on the Constitution, allowing for filing against the unconstitutionality of the ruling.  

 In response to the current development, women circle voiced their all-agreed opinion that such reactionary conventions are problematic. The civil laws based on patriarchal system need to be revised. Also they argued for the abolition of a clause in question stating that a son follow the family name and origin of his father and be registered in the father’s side.