South Korean Court Orders Japan to Compensate WWII ‘Comfort Women’

Japan has argued that the matter was already settled under a 1965 treaty.

South Korean former "comfort women" Kim Bok-Dong (L) and Gil Won-Ok (R), who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II, attend a protest with other supporters to demand Tokyo's apology for forcing women into military brothels during the war outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Aug. 12, 2015. Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images

A South Korean appellate court on Thursday ordered Japan to compensate 16 women who were forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War II, overturning a 2021 lower court decision.

The suit was filed against Japan in 2016, but the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the case in 2021, citing “sovereign immunity,” a legal doctrine that allows a state to be immune from a civil suit in foreign courts.