Japan 2025 (Ne) 5561 Damages and Compensation Appeal Case

In 2021, a group of South Korean former "comfort women," including prominent activist Lee Yong-soo, alongside bereaved family members, filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government in the Tokyo District Court. They demanded 100 million yen per person in damages and a formal state apology for the physical and psychological suffering caused by Japan's wartime military comfort women system. The district court dismissed the case in 2022, ruling that Japan enjoys sovereign immunity and that individual claims were extinguished by the 1965 Japan-Korea Claims Settlement Agreement. The plaintiffs appealed to the Tokyo High Court, which heard the case under docket Reiwa 6 (Ne) 5561 and upheld the dismissal in 2024, emphasizing that the judiciary cannot adjudicate acts of state under customary international law. A further appeal to the Supreme Court of Japan resulted in a final 2025 judgment that definitively rejected all claims, ending the legal battle in Japanese courts.

The Supreme Court of Japan in 2025 upheld the lower and appellate courts' rulings, confirming that Japan cannot be sued for such historical acts under the principle of sovereign immunity, and that all claims were resolved through the 1965 treaty. The plaintiffs' demands for compensation and apology were completely and finally dismissed.

Whether the Japanese government is subject to the jurisdiction of its own courts for wartime atrocities (state immunity), and whether the 1965 bilateral claims agreement permanently extinguished the individual rights of comfort women to seek damages and official apologies.

The final ruling drew strong condemnation from South Korean civic groups and the government, straining diplomatic relations. It reignited global debates on unresolved historical injustices, the limits of post-war treaties, and Japan's accountability for wartime human rights violations, overshadowing bilateral reconciliation efforts.