The Tokyo District Court on Monday dismissed a compensation suit brought against the government by South Korean women who were forced to provide sex for Japanese servicemen and by South Korean men who fought for Japan during the war.
"Individual victims' claims for damages against the victimizer country are not thought to be acceptable under international law," Judge Shoichi Maruyama said, although admitting the plaintiffs had suffered.
The judge also supported the government's insistence that the plaintiffs' right to damages was ended by a June 1965 agreement between Japan and South Korea. Japan has ruled out compensating individual South Koreans for wartime damage, saying the redress issue was settled by the accord.