A Japanese court yesterday refused to award compensation to Korean women who were allegedly forced to work in a Japanese machinery factory during World War II.
In the latest rejection in a string of similar cases, the Nagoya High Court upheld a lower court's ruling that the six Korean women -- aged 76 to 78 -- and a relative of a now deceased woman had lost their rights to seek damages.
Judge Kunio Aoyama acknowledged the plaintiffs were "forced to come to Japan and work after being threatened or deceived."
But he also said that under the agreements between Japan and South Korea when they restored relations in 1965, the case was a matter between states rather than between states and individuals.
"I feel the sky is tumbling on me," plaintiff Yang Geum-Deok said at a news conference after the ruling. "What am I supposed to say?"
The plaintiffs filed the suit against the Japanese government and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, demanding a total of ?240 million (US$1.97 million) and apologies.
The Korean women said they were brought to Japan in 1944, then aged 13 to 15, convinced they would work and earn money while going to school.
But they were forced to work at an airplane factory of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries without being paid or allowed to go to school.
Mitsubishi was a major military producer during the war and built the Zero airplanes, including the suicidal kamikaze.
The plaintiffs also argued that they faced discrimination back in Korea as people treated them as if they had been sex slaves in Japan.
Historians say up to 200,000 young women, mostly from Korea but also from Taiwan, China, Indonesia and the Philippines were forced to serve as sex slaves in Japanese army brothels during World War II.
Although some war compensation cases ended in out-of-court settlements or initial lower court victories, no plaintiffs have completely succeeded in securing compensation through courts.
In a landmark decision in April, the Supreme Court ruled that Chinese people do not have the right to seek war reparations because Beijing gave up the right to compensation when it restored relations with Japan in 1972.
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