Three South Korean women forced to act as sex slaves for Japanese troops during the second World War won a remarkable court victory yesterday, forcing the Japanese government to pay compensation for the first time.
Yamaguchi District Court in western Japan ordered the government to pay 300,000 yen (about £1,500) each to three of 10 South Korean plaintiffs who had demanded a total of 564 million yen and an official apology.
The sum was not large but the victory was symbolic, and historic. It was the first verdict by a Japanese court on the wartime government's role in forcing women from occupied Asia to serve in front-line brothels as "comfort women". Japan has so far refused an official apology or state compensation to the women, offering only privately-raised funds, and angering neighbours, including South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines.
"The government neglected its responsibility for the `comfort women's' recovery from their hurt," presiding Judge Hideaki Chikashita told the hearing. The court, however, turned down demands for a government apology. "Japan has no obligation to officially apologise," the judge said.
The three women - Ms Lee Sun-Dok (79), Ms Ha Sun-Nyo (80) and Ms Park Tu-Ri (73) - were kept in Imperial Army brothels in Shanghai and Taiwan before and during the war.
The women filed the lawsuit in December 1992 with the court near Shimonoseki, remembered as the gateway port to Japan for forced labourers from Korea.
During the six-year trial, Ms Lee, from Kwangju in South Korea, told the court how she was forced to have sex with at least 10 Japanese soldiers a day in Shanghai. She was kidnapped near her home in 1937 when she was 18.
Ms Lee told the court she was beaten with a gun and still felt pain from the wounds. She was released on August 15th, 1945. She then married in South Korea but never had children.
The lawyer for the three women said their court victory was unexpected and driven by global pressure.
"International calls for Japan's official apology and compensation drew this ruling," said Mr Seita Yamamoto. Historians say there were 200,000 "comfort women" in all, most of them from Korea.