The women, known as “comfort women,” were mostly from Korea, which was a Japanese protectorate at the time. It has also argued that Japan was immune from the jurisdiction of other countries’ courts because of sovereign immunity. [3]None of these lawsuits were successful until January 2021, when a panel of judges at the Seoul District Court rejected Japan’s claim of immunity. [6] In this case, the Seoul Central District Court explained that “[i]f the court accepts an exception in state immunity, a diplomatic clash is inevitable in the process of the ruling and enforcing it . [21] From Japan’s perspective, in addition to being immune from the jurisdiction of Korean courts, it considers all claims relating to its war-time behavior to have been settled by the 1965 treaty between the two countries.

Source: New York Times February 28, 2024 21:35 UTC