Families of China’s WWII ‘comfort women’ seek Japanese compensation, apologies in landmark lawsuits
- In a first, legal action has been launched in China to hold Tokyo accountable for war crimes, lawyer says
- But the litigation – inspired by a South Korean precedent – could take years, even if court accepts the case, experts say
The 18 families filed the lawsuits in a court in China’s central Shanxi province in mid-April, which Chinese media said was the first legal action of its kind.
The plaintiffs are seeking a formal apology and 2 million yuan (US$276,000) in damages from the Japanese government for each of the victims who were forced into sexual slavery before and during World War II.
Jia Fangyi, who leads a group of lawyers representing the families, said the lawsuits were inspired by a recent precedent in South Korea that ruled in favour of the “comfort women”, prompting them to use similar means under China’s own legal system and domestic laws to seek compensation from Tokyo for wartime crimes.
In the South Korean case, several victims had filed lawsuits in 2016. However, a lower court in Seoul dismissed the case in 2021, citing “sovereign immunity”, a legal principle that allows a state to be shielded from civil lawsuits in a foreign court.
However, in late 2023, the Seoul High Court reversed the decision and ordered the Japanese government to financially compensate each plaintiff.