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Agence France-Presse

North Korean defectors in Tokyo symbolically summoned Kim Jong-un to court on Thursday over a repatriation programme they describe as “state kidnapping”.
The unusual case is a bid to hold Pyongyang responsible for a scheme that saw more than 90,000 people move to North Korea from Japan between 1959 and 1984.
The programme mainly targeted ethnic Koreans but also their Japanese spouses, lured by fantastical propaganda promising a “paradise on Earth”.
I went to North Korea expecting paradise, and was trapped for 43 years
Five participants in the repatriation scheme who later escaped from North Korea are demanding 100 million yen (US$900,000) each in damages as they make their case in the Tokyo District Court.
They have accused Pyongyang of “deceiving plaintiffs by false advertising to relocate to North Korea”, where “the enjoyment of human rights was generally impossible”.
As there are no diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea, Kim has been summoned as the head of his country’s government.

Lingerie, secret tunnels, and chickens: a North Korean defector’s tale

“We don’t expect North Korea to accept a decision nor pay the damages,” Kenji Fukuda, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said at a briefing last month.
“But we hope that the Japanese government would be able to negotiate with North Korea” if the court rules in the plaintiffs’ favour, he added.
In all, 93,340 people took part in the repatriation programme carried out in Japan and North Korea by their Red Cross societies, and paid for by Pyongyang.
The Japanese government also backed the scheme, with media touting it as a humanitarian campaign for Koreans struggling to build a life in Japan.


During Tokyo’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, millions of Koreans moved to Japan, either voluntarily or against their will.
When Japan surrendered, hundreds of thousands remained, reluctant to return to their devastated homeland.
They were stripped of their Japanese nationality and became stateless, and many believed propaganda films portraying an idyllic life in North Korea.
Part of the defectors’ complaint concerns separation from their families still trapped in the isolated country.
“I don’t know what happened to my family. Maybe the coronavirus has hit them, maybe some of them have died of hunger,” Eiko Kawasaki, one of the five plaintiffs, said last month.


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To counter Trump threat, China can help North Korea denuclearise

North Korea

Japanese court summons North Korea's Kim Jong-un over ‘state kidnapping’

Plaintiffs and supporters near the Tokyo District Court on October 14. They want Pyongyang to pay compensation after more than 90,000 people joined a resettlement programme in North Korea between 1959 and 1984 that promised a “paradise on Earth”. Photo: AP

North Korea lured immigrants with propaganda offering ‘paradise on Earth’. Instead, they found themselves in hell

Harunori Kojima, a former communist member and a former head of the repatriation support office in Niigata. Photo: AFP

This picture taken on December 11, 2018 shows Eiko Kawasaki, who left Japan to return to North Korea at the age of 17, posing in Tokyo. - North Korea lured nearly 100,000 Koreans from Japan with fantastical propaganda promising returnees a "Paradise on Earth". They were part of a grand repatriation programme that continued on and off until 1984, carried out by the Red Cross Societies in Japan and North Korea and paid for by Pyongyang. It took Kawasaki 10 years -- and 18 months hiding in China -- but she eventually escaped back to Japan. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP) / TO GO WITH Japan-N.Korea-history-migration-rights, FEATURE by Harumi OZAWA

This picture taken on December 11, 2018 shows Manabu Ishikawa, once known as Lee Jay Hak, posing in Tokyo. - North Korea lured nearly 100,000 Koreans from Japan with fantastical propaganda promising returnees a "Paradise on Earth". They were part of a grand repatriation programme that continued on and off until 1984, carried out by the Red Cross Societies in Japan and North Korea and paid for by Pyongyang. Ishikawa fled to China in 2001 -- his wife and two sons followed later. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP) / TO GO WITH Japan-N.Korea-history-migration-rights, FEATURE by Harumi OZAWA

I left Japan for North Korea expecting paradise, and was trapped for 43 years

Eiko Kawasaki, who left Japan to return to North Korea at the age of 17, pictured in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

North Korean farmers work on a paddy field 06 June on the outskirts of Pyongyang, which is currently undergoing a shortage of food after harvests were destroyed by serious flooding last year. A Korean Central Broadcasting program aired by the Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK) 30 May advised North Koreans to eat wild grass roots to supplement their diet, another sign that the country's food crisis is worsening. AFP PHOTO (Photo by STR / AFP)

Eiko Kawasaki is in the middle of the front row of these plaintiffs as they walk to court in an earlier hearing of the case.

North Korea open to closer ties with Seoul, formal end to Korean war is ‘admirable idea’: Kim Yo-jong

Kim Yo-jong says the North is willing to resume talks if the South is “careful about its future language”. Photo: AP

FILE PHOTO: South Korea's President Moon Jae-in attends the first joint repatriation ceremony for Korean War remains at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam near Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. September 22, 2021. REUTERS/Marco Garcia/File Photo

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un sends warning to US, extends olive branch to the South

Kim Jong-un speaks during the second day of the North Korean parliament session at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang. Photo: YNA via DPA

South Korean President Moon jae-in speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. After the North Korea's launch Tuesday, Moon ordered officials to examine its latest weapons firing and previous outreach in a comprehensive manner before formulating countermeasures, according to Moon's office. (Choe Jae-koo /Yonhap via AP)

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Five plaintiffs want to hold his nation to account for enticing more than 90,000 people there between 1959 and 1984
They hope the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations, will negotiate if ruling finds in their favour



Five plaintiffs want to hold his nation to account for enticing 90,000+ people there between 1959 and 1984.


Japan

Korean peninsula

Kim Jong-un

Japanese court summons North Korea's Kim Jong-un over ‘state kidnapping’

Five plaintiffs want to hold his nation to account for enticing more than 90,000 people there between 1959 and 1984 They hope the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations, will negotiate if ruling finds in their favour

Five plaintiffs want to hold his nation to account for enticing more than 90,000 people there between 1959 and 1984

They hope the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations, will negotiate if ruling finds in their favour