hankyoreh

March 1

A court ruling has cast doubt on the constitutionality of wages payments that were not received from the Japanese government and companies by Koreans dragged overseas during the colonial era based on a “1 Yen-2,000 Won” exchange rate. The court has called it insufficient compensation considering the rise of inflation. Each time there has been controversy over the size of the payment, the Japanese government has claimed that the money is not “compensation,” but “symbolic consolation money.”

On Friday, Seoul Administrative Court decided to accept a petition submitted by a Mrs. Shin (78), the widow of Kim Hong-jun, a conscripted laborer of Japan’s forced mobilization, to review the constitutionality of a law designed to support victims of Japan’s forced mobilization overseas around the time of the Pacific War. The petition claims the law violates the constitutional guarantee of property rights.

Paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the law reads, “The state shall pay the victims or their bereaved families their unpaid wages based on a rate of 2,000 Won to the yen.” Accordingly, the committee that handles support for the victims last year decided to pay Shin 540,000 Won ($449), or 2,000 Won for every yen of her husband’s 270 yen in unpaid wages. Shin filed to cancel the disposition and filed for a review of the constitutionality of the law.

It its decision, the bench decided that first, in the 1965 treaty between Korea and Japan, victims of unpaid wages were excluded from compensation. Second, that they had taken into consideration that this money was paid for the first time following the treaty by the state, which has the duty to pay compensation. Third, the 1 Yen-2,000 Won was decided on prices and exchange rates in 1975 according to civilian compensation. Fourth, between 1945 and 2000, consumer prices in South Korea have increased 93,000-fold, and the money should be viewed as compensation, and it is therefore difficult to view 1 yen-2,000 won as fair compensation.



Lawyer Choi Bong-tae, who handled the case, said a wage of 99 Yen at that time could buy two cows, and the price of cows has increased 140,000-fold since then. Meanwhile, wages not received from the Japanese government or companies by Korean victims of the forced mobilization total 364.6 million yen.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]