A Tokyo court has ordered North Korea to pay 88 million Japanese yen ($570,000; £416,000) in compensation to four people who were lured to the country decades ago under a propaganda-driven resettlement scheme.
The plaintiffs said North Korea was promoted to them as a “paradise on Earth,” but instead they faced harsh living conditions, forced labour and strict limits on personal freedom. All four later escaped the country.
The ruling, delivered on Monday after years of legal proceedings, is largely symbolic, as there is no practical way to enforce it. North Korea has repeatedly ignored the lawsuit, and leader Kim Jong Un has not responded to summons issued by Japanese courts. Despite this, the plaintiffs’ lawyers described the decision as historic.
“This is the first time a Japanese court has exercised its sovereignty against North Korea to recognise its wrongdoing,” said Atsushi Shiraki, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, according to reports.
Between 1959 and 1984, more than 90,000 Zainichi Koreans ethnic Koreans living in Japan moved to North Korea under a resettlement programme that promised free healthcare, education and employment. Survivors say the reality involved forced labour in farms and factories, tight surveillance and no ability to leave.
One of the plaintiffs, Eiko Kawasaki, travelled to North Korea in 1960 at the age of 17. She escaped in 2003 and is now 83. She was among five people who filed the lawsuit in 2018. Two of the original plaintiffs have since died, though one continues to be represented by family members.
In 2022, a Tokyo district court rejected the claims, ruling that the case fell outside Japanese jurisdiction and that the statute of limitations had expired. That decision was overturned in 2023, when the Tokyo High Court ruled the case did fall under Japanese jurisdiction and found North Korea had violated the plaintiffs’ rights.
“It’s not an overstatement to say most of their lives were ruined by North Korea,” Judge Taiichi Kamino said during Monday’s ruling, according to the Associated Press.
Another lawyer for the plaintiffs, Kenji Fukuda, said the ruling was significant but acknowledged that securing compensation from North Korea would be extremely challenging.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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