By RYO INOUE/ Correspondent
April 23, 2024 at 17:48 JST
The Chinese national flag (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
BEIJING--Bereaved family members of former wartime “comfort women” have for the first time filed a lawsuit in Chinese courts demanding an apology and compensation from the Japanese government.
The internet-based China News Network reported on the lawsuit on April 22.
According to the report, the children of 18 former comfort women filed the lawsuit in a high court in Shanxi province this month seeking 2 million yuan (about 42.7 million yen, or $276,000) for the physical and psychological damage inflicted on their mothers by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II.
The former comfort women, who have all since died, were forced to provide sex to Imperial Japanese Army soldiers.
After 1990, lawsuits were filed in Japanese courts by former Chinese comfort women seeking an apology and compensation from the Japanese government.
But the Supreme Court ruled against the former comfort women and said the 1972 Japan-China joint communique effectively abandoned the rights of individuals to seek compensation through the courts for damages incurred during the war.
It remains to be seen if Chinese courts will take up the lawsuits. If they do, it could become another thorn in bilateral diplomatic relations.
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