Bereaved families of forced labor victims and representatives of civic groups, including the Pacific War Victims Compensation Promotion Council and the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities, hold a news conference on December 23 at the office of Lawyers for a Democratic Society in Seocho District, Seoul, to announce the filing of a lawsuit seeking the removal of Koreans enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The families of Koreans who were forcibly conscripted by Imperial Japan during World War II and later enshrined at Japan’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine have filed a lawsuit in a South Korean court, seeking the removal of their relatives’ names and damages for what they describe as an ongoing violation of their rights.
At a news conference in Seoul on Tuesday, civic groups including the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities and the Pacific War Victims Compensation Promotion Council said that 10 bereaved family members had filed suit against the Japanese government and Yasukuni Shrine. The plaintiffs are demanding that the shrine delete the names of deceased Korean soldiers and civilian employees from official enshrinement records and are seeking 880 million won (about $660,000) in compensation.
The lawsuit, submitted to the Seoul Central District Court, marks the first time a South Korean court has been asked to rule on the legality of the enshrinement of Korean victims at Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine that honors Japan’s war dead, including 14 convicted Class A war criminals. The shrine is widely regarded in South Korea and other parts of Asia as a symbol of Japanese militarism.
Ritual offerings are seen placed at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on April 21, 2024, in this Kyodo News photo. (Yonhap)
The plaintiffs argue that Japan not only forced their relatives into wartime service but later provided their personal information to the shrine without consent, violating the families’ rights to dignity, religious freedom and freedom of conscience. For the bereaved, they said, enshrinement is not a neutral religious ritual but an act that folds victims of aggression into a structure that glorifies Japan’s invasion wars.
“This is not remembrance; it is a continuation of harm,” the legal team representing the families said, calling for the right to mourn the dead in a manner chosen by the families themselves.
One of the plaintiffs, Lee Hee-ja, 82, said that although this year marks the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, her father remains “confined” at Yasukuni. She said she was separated from him when she was just over a year old. Several plaintiffs attended the news conference holding photographs of relatives who died after being conscripted by Japan.
An estimated 20,000 Koreans who died while serving Japan’s wartime effort are believed to be enshrined at Yasukuni. Since the issue became publicly known in the 1990s, families have twice sought removal through Japanese courts, only to have the cases dismissed on procedural grounds, including statutes of limitation. A third lawsuit filed in Japan in September is currently pending.
The new case in Seoul reflects growing efforts to frame the issue not only as a historical grievance but as an unresolved human rights violation, adding a fresh legal and diplomatic dimension to one of the most sensitive legacies of Japan’s colonial rule of Korea.
Jerry M. Kim (jerry_kim@koreabizwire.com)
